


Armin x Eren "F*ck Away the Pain''

by JustJoccee



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, College Student Armin Arlert, College Student Eren Yeager, F/F, F/M, M/M, Minor Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith, Minor Mikasa Ackerman/Sasha Blouse, Professor Erwin Smith, Professor Levi Ackerman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28809192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustJoccee/pseuds/JustJoccee
Summary: Originally a one-shot now a full story.College-aged AU with a shy introverted Armin and an alternative rock lead singer ErenUpdates every other Wednesday
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager, Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Eren Yeager, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi/Erwin Smith, Levi/Hange Zoë, Mikasa Ackerman/Sasha Blouse
Comments: 29
Kudos: 94





	1. Two Worlds Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The backstory: Armin is a junior in college studying oceanography while his best friend Mikasa works at a local bar as a bartender. Her bar frequently showcases small time bands. One night a band called "Warriors” who plays there frequently is scheduled to perform. Mikasa is determined to get Armin to come watch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen to the song that inspired this idea during the chapter, especially during the performance
> 
> "Fuck Away the Pain by Divide the Day"

“No Mikasa, I've told you a hundred times now I HAVE to finish my thesis on the Upper Ocean and Submesoscale Processes by Tuesday." Armin huffed as he hoisted his forest green messenger bag onto his shoulder, the weight of it almost making him lose his balance. "Besides when have I ever been into bands? I like my indie singer/songwriters."

"Armin just once would you trust me? I think you'll really like these guys, they play there all the time! Plus the lead singer is a total smoke show but he doesn't seem interested in girls." Mikasa wiggled her eyebrows at Armin. She got up off the couch in their shared apartment and blocked Armin's route to the door. Armin rolled his eyes at her antics and tried to walk around her but she got in his way again. "Armin... It's been five months since Jean left-“

“Yeah, I know Mikasa since he left to be with Marco. Thanks for the reminder." Armin deadpanned. Armin gently pushes her out of his way and makes his way to the door "If I go tonight will you drop it?" He looks over his shoulder as she nods making him groan. "Ugh, fine I'll go, but I'm drinking on your tab." He smirks softly before heading to his first class. On his way, he bumps into Historia and they start talking. Eventually, Armin asked her what to wear for the bar show and made plans to go together.

~~~~

Reiner kicks the door in and plops down on the couch. He lets out a sigh props his feet on the coffee table. "Reiner this is why our landlord hates us. You're always so violent towards our apartment." Eren groans as he kicks Reiner’s legs pushing his feet off the table. "You're gonna get us kicked out." Eren walks over to the fridge and pulls out the few stray beer cans left in the fridge. Ymir and Bertholdt walk in the door quickly catching the cans tossed to them by Eren. All of them kick back on the couches in Reiner and Eren's living room. "All right let's pick out our setlist for the show tonight then get ready.”

Reiner and Bertholdt are in the living room in their black jeans and band shirts. Ymir is sitting on the bathroom sink with Eren in between her legs while she does his eyeliner. “You know I'm pretty glad you finally ditched that Levi creep you were seeing." She chuckled as Eren just rolled his eyes. "What? He was hella weird, you can do better."

Eren smiled softly, "Thanks Ymir, I know you mean well. You know I wasn't with him for his personality. Just the eleven inches down under." Eren smirks slightly before he and Ymir start laughing together as they finish getting ready. Ymir walks out in faded black jeans and a white t-shirt with some obscure reference no one ever understands. She takes Reiner’s beer and finishes it before slamming it on the table.

"Eren would you hurry up? You know they hate it when we're late!" Bertholdt shouts as he starts gathering up all the trash to throw it out. Reiner and Ymir are bickering in the living room as always.

"Chill out I just finished." Eren walks out in a black mesh crop top and ripped black skinny jeans that look painted on. Top it all off with his signature knee-high combat boots. "How do I look, guys? I think this is my favorite look." Eren does a full turn and all four chuckle together before all heading out to their show.

~~~~

Historia is currently rummaging through Armin's closet to find a suitable outfit. "Armin we really need to talk about this goody-two-shoes wardrobe. I'm never go- Armin!" Historia pulls out a black satin button-up and looks at it in awe. "Go put this on right now.

Armin comes back in the shirt as requested while pulling his hair up into a messy and fluffy man bun. "Does this look okay?" Historia hums to herself as she walks over to Armin and undoes some of the top buttons. "Okay, so maybe my black jeans and my boots?' Historia nods and they finish getting ready. They link arms as they leave Armin's apartment.

They walk into the bar to see a blonde man on drums, a girl on bass, and another guy with dark hair on guitar. Historia and Armin walk over to Mikasa's part of the bar. Mikasa smiles at the sight of her friends. "Hi, guys!" She walks over before quickly mixing their usuals. They sit at the bar making small talk when a deep voice calls out from next to Armin. Armin turns to see a breathtaking dark-haired boy with emerald eyes.

"Oh hey Eren, you want your usual as always?" 'Eren' nods before leaning his forearm on the bar. He turns and sees Armin staring with wide eyes. He smirks at Armin before turning his body to Armin and leans in slightly. Armin watches as Eren's eyes perform a full-body scan.

"I don't think I've ever seen you here before." Eren’s amused eyes meet Armin's bashful eyes. "What's your name?" He takes a step closer to Armin making Eren's height over Armin apparent. He looks away only to take his drink and raise it in thanks to Mikasa before turning all his attention back to Armin. "My name's Eren, I'm the singer for the band that's about to play. You should sit near the stage for me." He winks before the smirk settles back onto his lips.

Armin's face is a pretty shade of pink as he sips his drink, "My name's Armin, I go to Rose college." He takes a deep breath before continuing, "Why do you want me to sit close?" He chews on his lower lip, a nervous habit that developed from his years with Jean. Eren hums softly as he raises his hand to Armin's face. Eren runs his thumb against Armin's lower lip before gently tugging it from between his teeth. Armin feels his heart pounding in his chest.

Eren leans in next to Armin's ear before whispering, "Because I asked nicely, usually I don't." He sighs softly before pulling away from his ear but kept his body close, "Please. I'd like it. A lot." At some point, Mikasa and Historia escaped to a different part of the bar leaving Armin alone with Eren. Armin nods making Eren's cheeky smirk make its way back to his lips. "Good. So tell me something, about you.”

"Uh-oh like what?" Armin asked, by this point Armin found himself leaning in closer to Eren. They were only inches apart and Armin silently hoped his heartbeat while erratic was at least quiet. Armin finished his drink even with the emerald eyes staring right into his soul.

"Like if you have a partner I should be worried about, what your major is, how many times a day you hear your eyes are like sapphires. Stuff like that." Eren brought his free hand to Armin's waist before closing the last bit of space. Armin immediately looked down to hide his blush. “Oh, c'mon don't do that.” Eren stopped leaning against the bar to gently grab Armin's chin and tilt his face back up. ”Don't hide from me.”

"No, there's no partner... They left months ago for someone new. As for my major, its oceanography, I'm working on my first junior thesis right now." Armin smiled at Eren gently. "Oh and uhm... No one said that to me before." Armin saw Eren's face twisted up in confusion. "What's that look for Eren?" Armin leaned in out of curiosity

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there's no boyfriend to worry about, but I don't get how.” Eren removes his hand from Armin's chin to rub the back of his own neck awkwardly. "Can't imagine he thinks the new guys so much better. But uh... No one's told you that about your eyes? Really? They were the first thing that caught my attention."

"Eren!” Eren turned towards the voice “Time to get warmed up, we're starting soon." Bertholdt called from the side of the stage.

Eren sighs before turning back to Armin. He chuckles seeing Armin's face get redder than before. "Looks like I gotta go for now, but I'll find you after the show and we can pick this back up. Okay?" Eren grabs Armin's hand and brings it to his lips gently. He winks at Armin before walking over to his band and Reiner immediately puts him in a headlock while Ymir and Bertholdt laugh.

"Of course the first show you come to the lead singer is into you." Mikasa shakes her head amused. "You do know EVERY girl is jealous of you now right? He's been every girl's dream since they started playing here." Mikasa makes Armin another drink with a smirk. "I told you so by the way."

Historia comes back and grabs Armin's hands. "OMG! Tell me everything." She looks at him with sparkly eyes. Mikasa leans on the bar to listen in. "You never go out but the hottest guy ever just hit on you, that's so unfair." She smiles widely at Armin just happy for him.

"Can I tell you guys later? I kinda promised I'd sit near the stage...." Armin blushes red but has a faint smile across his lips. Historia drags Armin to an empty table in a clear view of the lead singer and sits with him.

~~~

"Reiner let go! C'mon it's embarrassing." Eren whined while still stuck in Reiners death grip. “Ymir! Bertholdt! You're just gonna let him suffocate me like this?" Eren kept struggling to get out of Reiner's headlock with no success.

"First, who's that boy you were talking to? He doesn't look like your usual type." Ymir kneeled in front of Eren. "I knew you were over Levi but man you move quick." She teased before tapping Reiner’s arm telling him to let go. Reiner quickly lets go causing Eren to stumble slightly. Reiner chuckled as he made his way to the drum set.

"For the last time Ymir I only dated Levi because he was packing. And he bought me stuff." Eren sighed as he grabbed his mic and wrapped the cord around his hand holding the mic. "I know he's not my usual type but his eyes were mesmerizing. They're like sapphires." Ymir notices the dreamy far far-off look in Eren's eyes. He shakes his head before walking to his spot at center stage and smiles seeing Armin so close to the stage. "Let's do this." He turns to the crowd and beams. "We are The Warriors!"

Armin watches as Eren takes center stage the lights making him look like some kind of fallen angel. The guitar echoes for a bit before the bass and drums join. Armin's eyes go wide as Eren makes direct eye contact with him before winking and plastering his signature smirk on as he starts singing.

“You think your life is done he took it all with him.” Eren tilts his head back as he continues “So you drink enough for it to wash away the sin” He leans forward as he brings his head back to a normal upright position. He looks directly at Armin while singing. “Such a shitty thing he did, the way he said goodbye. You can take it out on me if you like." He winks before falling to his knees. "Fuck away the pain, erase him from your brain. Fake it like you love me, Come on baby touch me.”

His free hand grabs his throat briefly before he drags it down his body in time with his body roll. “Show me where it hurts this dirty little curse. Don't have to be ashamed if you wanna scream my name. While I fuck away the pain." Eren brings his hand up to the back of his head while getting up on one knee.

“You hate the way he fooled around behind your back. A slave to him but now with me no strings attached." He fully stands up and walks to Armin making direct eye contact again. “But if you wanna use me up and leave me in the bed. If that's what you need go right ahead.” When he gets to Armin he turns so his backs facing him, and he leans back resting his head on Armin's chest tilting his head up to look at him. “Fuck away the pain, erase him from your brain. Fake it like you love me, Come on baby touch me.” He grabs Armin's hand and places it at the base of his neck, with a massive smirk on his face.

* side note * Armin is very much a good boy so he never really went to parties or even drank much so his tolerance is pretty low. Mikasa also only knows how to make strong drinks and Armin is on his third sooooo... He's pretty tipsy. * continuing *

Through the song, Armin's mouth hung open slightly in awe. He bit down on his lower lip when Eren's head rested against his chest. He looked down at Eren and his heart skipped a beat seeing this fallen angel close up. Suddenly the liquid courage he's been drinking hit him when his hand was placed near Eren's neck. His inhibitions out the window, he moved his hand to be gently wrapped around Eren's throat. Eren raised an eyebrow in shock and amusement. Eren turns his body so he's facing Armin, his face inches away from Armin's. Armin looks up at him and unconsciously pulls him closer by the back of his neck.

“Show me where it hurts this dirty little curse. Don't have to be ashamed if you wanna scream my name. While I fuck away the pain.” Eren rests his forehead on Armin's smirking at him “Stronger than a shot of whiskey or any pill you take." Eren closes his eyes as his free hand finds Armin's waist and grabs it roughly. “Fuck away the pain, erase him from your brain. Fake it like you love me, Come on baby touch me. Show me where it hurts this dirty little curse. Don't have to be ashamed if you wanna scream my name While I fuck away the pain.”

Eren slowly pulls away from Armin and saunters back to the stage to finish the song.“Erase him from your brain, fake it like you love me, come on baby touch me.” He turns back to the crowd as he drags his hand down his chest in time with a full-body roll. “Show me where it hurts this dirty little curse. Don't have to be ashamed if you wanna scream my name. While I fuck away the pain, fuck away the pain. While I fuck away the pain”

The song finishes and loud applause follows. The bands all shaking their heads at Eren and hear a faint "show off" covered poorly by a cough from Reiner. Eren brings his free hand behind his back and flips Reiner off. They continue playing their other songs and it’s time for the band to take a break. The band huddles up on the stage talking quietly, so Armin and Historia go outside with Mikasa in tow.

Armin immediately starts telling them the whole story with red cheeks from either blushing or the booze. "What the hell is in those drinks Mikasa? I'm not that bold!"She shrugs and chuckles. Armin leans on the railing getting lost in thought. _'Did I really just do that? I've never been bold like that. Not even with Jean and I was with him for years.'_ Armin was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't notice his friends go inside. He also didn't notice who joined him outside.

~~~~

The moment the band figured out their set Eren went looking for Armin. He walked to the bathroom with no luck so he went to the bar thinking he was getting a new drink. “It's Mikasa right?" Mikasa looked up and nods. “Do you know where Armin is? You're friend's right?"

“He got lost in his thoughts on the deck, Historia was with him but it looks like your bassist caught her attention.” Mikasa turned to look outside. "Why is Jean here?"

Eren froze as he remembered something. ‘No, there's no partner... They left months ago for someone new.’ His eyes widen, "No..."

~~~

"So you get cool after we break up? I used to beg you to come to shows." Jean stared in disbelief. "And since when do you act so daring? We only broke up a few months ago what happened?"

Armin took a deep breath before turning his head and glaring at Jean. "Yes, thank you Jean I totally forgot how long ago we broke up. Like it didn't hurt like Hell for three months. But I don't owe you any kind of explanation. You left, not me." Armin saw Eren behind Jean and their eyes locked. Eren winked trying to say he'd follow Armin's lead. "So if you don't mind Jean, I have a lead singer to get back to."

Eren smirked shaking his head as he walks over to Armin. He pressed himself against Armin's back placing his hands on the railing. "Why'd you run off at the break baby? I was looking for you." Eren nuzzled his face into Armin's hair his lips brushing against Armin's ear. He shifts his eyes to Jean menacingly. "I'm pretty sure he said to get lost horse face. So unless you want me to beat into you, I'd get moving." A low growl emits from Eren and Jean backs up slowly before retreating into the bar. Eren leans down closer to Armin's face as he wraps one of his hands around Armin's. "You okay Armin?"

Armin lets out an uneasy breath and nods. "Thanks for that. How'd you figure it out?" Armin leaned back into Eren finding his touch strangely comforting. He rested his head against Eren's as his breathing started to return to normal. "Also were you really looking for me? Or did you just say it to bug Jean?"

Eren scoffs and grabs Armin’s waist turning him so they're face to face. "Of course I was looking for you. Did you forget I said we could pick this up after? I still wanted to see you on my breaks. 'Cause I don't think I can wait to do this anymore, especially after our little performance earlier."

Armin looked up at him confused but before he could even ask him anything, Eren pressed his lips against Armin's gently. Eren wrapped his arms around his waist while pinning Armin between his body and the railing. Armin signed into the kiss before wrapping his arms around Eren's neck. Before long Armin felt a tongue prod at his lips. He parted his lips, letting Eren in to explore in his mouth before feeling a cold metal run against his tongue and he pulls back. “What the hell was that?" Armin asked breathlessly.

Eren looks down at Armin, his breathing heavy and uneven. "What are you- Oh.." Eren chuckles lightly before smiling at Armin. "I'm sorry, should I have warned you about this?" He pokes his tongue out just enough to show off his tongue piercing that's adorned with a sapphire. He watches as Armin's face gets red and brings a hand up to his cheek. Running his thumb against Armin's cheekbone Eren leans in close. "Let me kiss you again...."

Armin just nods and in an instant, Eren's got his lips against Armin's. _'This feels rougher than the first time.'_ Armin thinks to himself while tangling his hand in Eren’s hair. Armin pulls Eren closer and hums into the kiss before parting his lips. Eren immediately pushed his tongue into Armin's mouth and runs his tongue against Armin's. He smirks against Armin's lips before pulling away and resting his forehead on Armin’s. "Damn blondie..." Eren chuckled as he bumped Armin's nose with his own. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Armin sighs and giggles lightly before moving his head to hide his face in Eren's neck. “Nothing you'd find interesting I'm sure. I was supposed to work on my semester thesis but Mikasa talked me into coming out tonight." Armin nuzzles himself closer to Eren. "I'll probably just spend the day in the library working on it. Why?"

"’Cause I wanted to take you out but you just reminded me my semester thesis is due soon too. Hey, why don't we go to the library together? We can go grab lunch together at some point." Eren rubs little circles in Armin's hip with his thumb that snuck under Armin's shirt somehow. He smiles as he feels Armin nod against him.

"Eren! We got more sets to play c'mon!" Bertholdt called from the door.

Eren groans resting his head on Armin's. While it made him smile that Eren wants to stay, Armin really wants to see him perform more. "Eren, we have all day just us tomorrow, I'd really wanna watch you perform." Armin leans back before going on his tip-toes to peck Eren's cheek.

Eren sighs happily pressing his lips to Armin's forehead. "Who am I to deny that?" Eren keeps his arm around Armin’s waist as they walk inside. Eren makes eye contact with Jean who's got his arm around some freckled boy. He quickly looks down at Armin, who's already seen the pair, to find a flustered look on his face. Armin looks up at Eren briefly before pressing his lips to Eren's neck and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. He lets go of Eren and makes his way over to Mikasa and Historia. Armin turns back to give Eren a wink before striking up a conversation with his two besties.

Completely frozen in his tracks Eren's mind runs at a mile a minute to try and process what his newfound favorite blondie just did. Snapping back to reality he sees the death glare from Jean and chuckles to himself before making his way back to his band to finish the show.


	2. Angel Among humans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning leads to an interesting story to Eren's past
> 
> Also for this chapter the song is somebody out there by a rocket to the moon

Eren woke up groaning burying his face back into the pillows. "Reiner!" Eren waited for his roomate's response and when he got nothing, “Seriously Reiner? What the fu-" Eren finally sat up and rubbed his eyes before realizing this wasn't his room. He looked around the Ocean blue room and took in the decor. Various sized seashells covered the dresser and windowsill, by the window there was a hammock hanging from the ceiling. Looking above him he saw the strings of lights covering the ceiling. Eren smiled at the charm the room held before furrowing his eyebrows and rubbing his head, "What happened last night?" Just then Armin, only wearing sweatpants, walked in with two mugs in hand and everything came flooding back. His eyes widened as he looked down at himself and saw he was only in his boxers.

"We didn't do anything if that's what your little freakout's about." Armin chuckled, "You just came over to sleep. I guess you lost track of your roommate after the show. Coffee?" Armin sat down next to Eren on the bed before handing him one of the mugs. Eren smiled taking the coffee before leaning in and pressing his lips to Armin’s gently. Wrapping an arm around Eren’s neck Armin signed softly into the kiss. "Good morning to you too Eren." Armin said as they pulled away from the kiss. The two of them chuckled leaning their foreheads’ against each other's. They finish their coffees setting the mugs down on the nightstand. Eren grabs Armin by the waist pulling him onto his lap. Armin's face goes red as he wraps his arms around Eren’s neck.

"Kiss me.” Eren all but demands as he looks deep into Armin’s eyes. Armin leaned down pressing his lips against Eren’s sighing. Eren groans as he trails one of his hands up Armin's back pulling him closer. "I wouldn't be able to convince you to skip the library today would I?" Eren breathes out in between kisses. Armin giggles as he pulls back. "I'm taking that as a no?" Eren frowns and falls back on the bed.

"I'm already behind on my thesis, and you have yours to work on too!" Armin smiles as he pulls his hair back and puts it up in his signature messy bun. "You can come back over tonight if you'd like. But I need to get dressed." Armin leans down pressing a chaste kiss to Eren’s lips before getting up and walking over to his closet. "Do you need to go home and change?"

“What you don't like my look anymore?" Eren chuckles folding his hands behind his head, "Yea I need to get my laptop and everything too, I'd like to come back tonight if the offer’s there." He looks up at the lights, "I want to see these at night." Eren got up and started getting dressed in last nights’ outfit.

"Oh quiet, you know that's not what I meant." Armin walked out of the closet with a yawn. He had a white button-up on under a blue striped sweater, paired with faded blue skinny jeans. Armin walked over to his dresser and rummaged through one of the drawers for a pair of socks, "I just don't know how well a mesh crop top goes over at the library. I'd offer something of mine but I think you're a little too tall to fit." Grabbing a pair of navy blue socks to match his sweater he walked to the bed and sat down. He pulled on his socks and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. "I don't think Mikasa came home last night, hope she's okay." He went to his messages and shot Mikasa a text.

Eren chuckles, crawling on the bed behind Armin before kissing his head, "I think you just don't want others to see. I'm ready to go whenever you are blondie." Eren nuzzled his face into Armin’s neck, "I just hope Reiner doesn't embarrass me at my place. Please don't take anything he says seriously okay?" Eren wraps an arm around Armin’s waist feeling him nod. “You ready to go?" Eren asks as Armin finishes putting his black doc martens on.

"Yea let's get going to your place, I want to get a window seat at the library." Armin grabs his keys and school bag, slinging it over his shoulder. The door opens to reveal a disheveled looking Mikasa. She groans and drops her keys on the table. "Mikasa! You're okay! Where were you?! I was worried sick!" Armin rushes over to her and hugs her tightly. "You look like you got hit by a bus."

"Thanks Armin, that's so nice of you." Mikasa rolls her eyes as she rubs her head. "That bassist sure knows how to put them down and here I thought I had a-" Mikasa notices Eren walk out of Armin’s room and her eyes widen. "Oh my god, Armin! Are you feeling okay? You never go out and all of a sudden you bring a guy home?!?" She places her hand on his forehead as a mother would before being swatted away by Armin.

“Knock it off Mikasa, nothing even happened, he just slept over. But you must be perfectly fine seeing how you can still flip out over nothing. Eren c'mon let's go." Armin walks out the door and heads downstairs. Eren scratches the back of his neck before following after him. Armin grunts as he tosses his bag in the back seat of his car. "I love Mikasa, I do, but my god is she suffocating." He slams the car door shut and sighs.

Eren chuckles, "I think it's sweet she's so caring. Not everyone has a friend like that." Eren walks to the driver's door and opens it for Armin. Armin smiles at him walking over to his door going up on his toes pressing a kiss to Eren’s cheek. He gets in the car and fumbles with his keys as Eren walks to the passenger side. As Eren gets in, Armin starts the car and starts driving towards Eren’s apartment following the GPS's directions. Eren reaches over placing a hand on Armin’s thigh gently rubbing his thumb in little circles. Armin smiles and grabs his hand intertwining their fingers bringing their hands up to his lips. He presses his lips against the back of Eren’s hand. Eren blushes slightly and looks out the window.

~~~~

"Reiner please be dressed!" Eren called out as he opens the door to the apartment, he walked in with Armin in tow. Reiner rolls his eyes from the couch and stuck his middle finger up at Eren. "Oh thank god, for once you're decent. Reiner this is Armin, Armin this is my roommate Reiner he's kinda like my big brother." Armin and Reiner nod to each other before Reiner turns his attention back to the TV. "Good talk." Eren shakes his head, grabbing Armin’s hand, leading him to his room down the hall.

Armin looks around Eren’s room, the walls covered in band posters of Rock and Grunge bands Armin’s never heard of, the ceiling outlined with a color-changing light strip. One wall seemed dedicated to trippy posters that change colors with the lights and one corner by the bed had an acoustic guitar propped up on a stand. Even just looking at the two rooms all Armin could think is how different they are. Armin sat down on the bed while Eren slipped off his shirt. Armin stared pulling his lower lip between his teeth. He lets his eyes wander down Eren’s back before Eren walks to his closet and is out of view.

Eren walks back into view putting half his hair up in a ponytail. He's got a black button-up on with a white band t-shirt over it with black ripped jeans. He walked over to his vanity and opened his little box for his piercings. He changes out his eyebrow ring for an all-black one and put in his lip rings, one on each side of his lower lip. He quickly adjusted his skewed nose ring and grabbed a pair of socks from the drawer. He sat next to Armin who was just staring, "Like what you see love?" Eren winked at him before pressing his lips against Armin’s roughly. He ran his thumb along Armin’s cheek before pulling his socks on quickly and sliding on a pair of worn black vans. "Okay, I'm ready to go." Eren grabs his backpack then Armin’s hand and walks out of the apartment.

~~~~

"Oh perfect! There's still window seats open!" Armin drags Eren to the tables at the window and sets his stuff down on the table. He opens his laptop and rushes over to a section of books and grabs the few books he needs. Eren sat himself down at the table pulling his laptop out along with studio-grade headphones slipping them on his head leaving one ear free. Armin came back and set the books down and sat down himself. He went to start working on his thesis before pausing and looking over at Eren. "Hey, you never told me your major, or what your thesis is on."

"I'm a music major, big surprise, my thesis setup is probably a little different than yours. It’s for my composition class so basically, I'm composing a song. Though I'm struggling, they want it to tell a story." Eren leans back in his chair, scratching at the back of his neck, "Problem is, the topics we have to pick from I have no experience with." He looked over at Armin who was resting his head on his hand smiling gently. Eren looked down awkwardly and cleared his throat, “Heh, sorry I didn't mean to prattle on like that...." He looked back up at Armin smiling, "You're really easy to talk to, Blondie.”

"No, I know you a little better now. Besides I guarantee my thesis will sound dull to you in comparison." Armin chuckled as Eren gestured for him to elaborate. "Well, I'm doing a thesis on Upper Ocean and Submesoscale Processes." Armin laughed lightly seeing Eren raise an eyebrow in confusion. "It’s interactions of ocean currents with other bodies of water, to put it simply. I'm an oceanography major after all remember?" Armin tucked one of the bits of hair that fell out of his bun behind his ear. “When you finish your song, will you show me? I'd love to hear it." He smiled as Eren nodded before he grabbed one of the books and opened it.

Eren taps his pencil on the table to the instrumental playing through his headphones, and his eyes drift to Armin. He fixes his gaze on Armin’s eyes, smiling at the faint glow behind them. He lets his eyes wander down Armin’s face as he rests his head on his free hand. His eyes catch on Armin’s lip he's chewing on in concentration before taking in the whole view; Armin flipping through pages of 3 different books while taking notes on his laptop, more strands of Armin’s hair having fallen from his bun now frame his face. Armin looks up catching Eren’s stare and his cheeks flush pink as he smiles. Eren felt his heart stop and skip a few beats seeing Armin as nothing short of an angel. "That doesn't look like you're getting any work done." Armin teased giggling lightly before turning back to his book with a small smile.

Eren dragged a hand down his face as a sole thought makes its way to the front of his mind. He scrolls through his recorded instrumentals settling on a simple light sound and putting it on loop. Eren pulls the assignment up on his laptop and stares at one of the possible prompts intently. 'A longing love story’ Eren‘s face drops and he grabs his lyric notebook and titles the new song, ‘Somebody Out There’

"Oh hi Professor Ackerman, what brings you to the library on a weekend?" Armin asks his head slightly tilted to the side. Eren's eyes shoot open before he brings a hand to his forehead to try and hide his face.

"Armin please you can call me Levi, Professor sounds old." Levi says dryly with a stack of books under one arm. His eyes shift to Eren and one of his eyebrows flicks up before he rolls his eyes. "Believe it or not I still enjoy coming to the library to read. Working on your thesis?" Levi asks causing Armin to nod. Levi lets out a sigh. "I can tell it's you Eren. Glad to see you're doing well." He deadpans as Eren lowers his hand shifting his gaze to the table. Armin's eyes shift between the two confused. "Well, I'll quit intruding on your guys’ little study date. Armin, I'll see you in class Tuesday." Levi saunters off to a far corner.

Armin looks at Eren seeing his unease and deciding it not be the best time to ask. About two hours have gone by in total silence between the two. "Hey, I'm getting kinda hungry, wanna take a break and go grab some food?" Eren nods silently and puts away his things. Armin takes his books to the shelf he found them on and walks over to Eren, ”You don't have to tell me but are you okay?" He asks cautiously as he places a hand on Eren’s shoulder. Eren places his hand on Armin‘s letting out a sigh and nodding. He stands up as he gently pushes Armin’s hand off his shoulder.

"What do you wanna eat? It's my treat." Eren asks as he walks to Armin grabbing his hand. Eren frowns seeing Armin’s distressed look before sighing. "Levi's my ex-fling, we ended things a few weeks ago. That's all Blondie." Eren groans seeing that the distressed look didn't leave Armin's face. "You know what I'll just go." Eren throws his bag on his shoulder and rushes out of the library before Armin can say anything.

~~~~~

That Thursday Armin let Historia talk him into getting coffee with her and Ymir. Ymir rests her head on her hand frowning at Armin. "I can't believe Eren’s still keeping out of touch with you. He was so smitten with you the night we all met." Armin shrugged running his thumb along the brim of his mug. "I get his ex showing up makes things awkward but still." Ymir lifts her head up as an idea pops into her head. "Why don't you come to his performance? Part of our grade is performing our originals and he's performing tomorrow. I can sneak you in and you can talk to him after, I mean he'll be pissed at me but at least you might be able to talk it out."

"You know what? Yeah, besides he owes me lunch." Armin chuckles before sipping his hot cocoa. He smiled watching Historia’s eyes light up while she talked with Ymir. "Hey did he tell you what his song was about? I never had a chance to ask." Armin asked to which Ymir shook her head.

"Guess we're both in for a surprise."

~~~~

Armin’s sat on the ground in front of Mikasa who's braiding his bangs and pinning them along the side of his head while they wait for Ymir to get Armin. He's got on an emerald green t-shirt under a black cardigan with a pair of black chino pants. Armin slips on a pair of black Chelsea boots and checks the time. ‘She should be here.’ Just as he finishes his thought he hears a loud knock come from the door. Armin grabs his messenger bag and walks to the door. He waves to Mikasa before opening the door and leaves the apartment with Ymir. They sneak into the classroom and sit in the middle of the classroom.

~~~~

"Eren! Wake up!" Reiner throws a water bottle at Eren to wake him up. "You've got your thesis performance today!" Eren groans raising an arm to flip off Reiner before sitting up. "I'll make some coffee. Good luck today bro.” Reiner leaves the room to make Eren some coffee. Eren signs as he gets up and walks to his closet. He grabs a random grey sweater and a pair of black jeans with holes in the knees before quickly getting dressed. He threw on a black beanie, a pair of black socks, and his worn-out black vans. He grabbed his backpack and guitar case leaving his room to be greeted with a travel mug of coffee. He mumbles out a 'thanks' before taking the coffee and heads out the door.

Eren quietly drinks his coffee on the bus with his earbuds in, his current obsession being 'You Me At Six'. His mind wanders to Armin and he frowns as he looks out the window. 'He's too good for me.' is the main thought that takes over his brain when he thinks of the precious blonde. He finishes his coffee and tucks the mug in his bag as he tries focusing on the music blasting in his ears. But, a certain blonde has taken residence in the forefront of Eren’s brain. Resting his head against the window Eren becomes plagued with the sound of Armin’s laugh and the way Armin looked at him as they pulled away from a kiss. He lets out a frustrated sigh, 'I hope he doesn't resent me for Saturday, I just would've hurt him eventually. I always hurt them no matter what I do...’ He gets off the bus at his school and makes his way to his classroom with his head down. He sits down near the front and rests his head on his hand taking out one of his earbuds.

"Today we will be finishing the performances and out of the remaining students who have to go looks like only one is here. Looks like it'll be a short class today so Yeager you're up."

Eren grabs his guitar out of his case and makes his way to the front of the class. He sits in the chair and quickly double-checks the tuning on his guitar. He takes a deep breath before he starts playing looking down at his hands. "You deserve someone who listens to you, hears every word and knows what to do. When you're feeling hopeless lost and confused, there's somebody out there who will."

Eren looks up with his eyes closed and a small frown on his face. “You need a man who holds you for hours, make your friends jealous when he brings you flowers. And laughs when he says they don't have love like ours, there‘s somebody out there who will.” Eren opens his eyes as he looks around the classroom. His eyes meet Armin’s and his heart skips a beat, keeping eye contact with Armin he continues singing “There's somebody out there who's looking for you, someday he'll find you, I swear that it's true.” Eren’s eyes tear up slightly as he sings the next line. "He's gonna kiss you and you'll feel the world stand still, there's somebody out there who will."

Armin’s eyes are glued to Eren the moment he walked in the door. While Eren was getting ready to perform, Armin folded his arms on the table in front of him and rests his chin on top of his hands. He lets out a small hum as Eren starts playing, Armin’s eyes wandering down to Eren’s hands. Slowly becoming mesmerized by the way his hands bend to play before shaking his head and looking back up in time to lock eyes with Eren. Armin lifted his head off his hands as he refused to break eye contact. His eyes widened seeing the tears form in Eren’s eyes.

Eren looked away from Armin closing his eyes tightly causing his brows to furrow. “He'll take you dancing and pull you in close, spin you around, and won't let you go, till they turn the lights off and he'll take you home. There's somebody out there who will." He opens his eyes looking off to the side the pained expression still present on his face. “There's somebody out there who's looking for you, someday he'll find you I swear that it's true. He's gonna kiss you and you'll feel the world stand still, there's somebody out there who will."

Eren looks back at Armin with a sad smile before continuing. “Tossing and turning and dreaming at night, about finding him and praying and hoping you might. 'Cause you deserve someone who knows how to treat you right, I know he's out there he's looking for you. Someday he'll find you I swear that it's true, and he's gonna kiss you and you'll feel the world stand still." He keeps his eyes on Armin as he finishes his song. "Oh, you need some who'll miss you, hold you, and kiss you. There's somebody out there who will." He stands up and puts his guitar back in its case.

The class erupts in applause, Eren’s performances are always something the class looks forward to, as Armin gets up and runs up to Eren. Armin throws his arms around Eren’s neck pulling him into a tight hug. "You're a damn idiot, Eren.” Armin mumbles resting his head on Eren's shoulder. "You owe me an explanation."

Eren chuckles as he wraps his arms around Armin’s waist tightly, "Yeah, I've heard that before." He leans his head against Armin’s holding the blonde as close as he can. Eren lets his eyes flutter shut while running one hand up to the back of Armin’s neck. "I know I do, I just can't believe you're here right now."

The class gets dismissed, Ymir hands Armin his bag before giving Eren a 'Don’t fuck this up again' look and she walks out the classroom calling Historia. The two settle on a small, quiet coffee shop near the college to talk. They sit in a corner booth practically closed off from the rest of the coffee shop. Eren sighs as he gathers his thoughts, before he can say anything Armin speaks up. "Look, I think I kinda get what happened, especially after your song, but I don't like when people make my choices for me." Armin looked over at Eren, "I mean no one has ever made me feel so special before in just barely a day, and I was with Jean since sophomore year in high school.",

"I'm not a good person Armin, I don't even know how to do the whole dating or boyfriend thing." Eren cuts Armin off before he can say anything else. "I've never done it. I mean I- I banged Levi for 3 months just ‘cause I thought it'd be fun, knowing he wanted more. You're an angel in comparison, I don't deserve that not after how many people I've hurt." Eren fixes his gaze on his mug refusing to meet Armin’s eyes.

"Who cares? There's a reason it's called the past. It's past you, what good does it do to sulk over it? All you can do is learn from it now, you can't change it." Armin grabs Eren’s chin gently turning his face towards his before he leans in and presses his lips to Eren’s. As he pulls away from the kiss Armin gives Eren the same look that's plagued his mind since they first kissed. Resting his forehead on Eren’s, Armin smiles, "Just so you know I do plan on making fun of you for the whole 'sleeping with my professor' thing for a while." Eren chuckles lightly, a smile forming on his lips. "You want to be with me, yes or no?" Armin asks leaning closer so their lips are just inches apart.

Muttering a 'fuck it' under his breath, Eren grabs the back of Armin’s neck and closes the distance between their lips in a rough kiss. Eren pulls away just enough to talk, "More than anything Blondie," Armin hums in agreement as he grabs Eren’s collar before pulling him back into the kiss, both of them smiling against each other's lips.

_'Damn Blondie what’re you doing to me?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much to everyone who left kudos and comments, it means so much and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story


	3. A little bit of sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A family friend of Eren's makes a house call, which leads to a sad confession. But a friend of Armin's might be enough to shift the sullen mood.

Eren pinned Armin’s wrists to the bed smirking down at him. Armin panted heavily with a small blush on his face as he looked up at Eren. Leaning down next to Armin’s ear Eren whispered, "I did warn you what would happen, so do you believe me yet?" Armin nods as Eren places a gentle kiss on his temple, "I told you I could beat you in a wrestling match, you're really fragile. No offense Blondie." Eren lets go of Armin’s wrists to grab his waist and pulls him closer. Armin wraps his arms around the brunette‘s shoulders pulling him down to press their lips together causing Eren to sigh into the kiss.

Armin smiles as he pulls away while playing with Eren’s hair, "You’ve got half a foot on me in height too, I don't know why I thought I could win." Armin sighs softly before gently nudging at Eren who just groans, "Eren I have to get up." The trapped blonde struggles against his captor.

"It's Sunday love, you can be lazy once in a while.” Eren gently laid his body on Armin’s nuzzling his face into the blonde's neck. Eren had talked Armin into spending the weekend at his apartment, the Friday Eren performed, as Reiner went home to see his mom. So Armin was trapped by his beautiful green-eyed boyfriend, (it still felt weird to say that for both parties but in a good way) chuckling as he rested his head against Eren’s smiling. All either had on were a pair of sweatpants but Armin looked even smaller in them seeing how they were Eren’s. Eren had about 6 inches in height and had more muscle mass in general. When Eren first saw Armin in them his heart stuttered because he thought it was just adorable.

Armin held Eren close, running his fingers through the dark locks as his eyes flutter shut. "Fine you win, but you're getting us food when we do get up." The blonde teased before feeling Eren nod. The two laid there in comfortable silence, Eren, who had moved his arms to wrap around Armin’s neck, started occasionally pressing light kisses to his neck and shoulder. A small shiver went down his back every time he felt Eren’s lips against his skin. The pair eventually just fell asleep holding each other.

~~~~

"Eren! Damn brat wake up!" Hannes shook Eren’s shoulder trying to get a response out of him. Eren groaned and shrugged off the hand on his shoulder before he snuggled closer to Armin. "Kid, this is cute but get up." Hannes gently smacked the boy's head. Eren rolls over, now laying next to Armin with one arm under his neck. He reaches up with his free hand and rubs his eyes before scanning the room.

"What the fuck are you doing here Hannes?" Eren grumbled before pulling Armin into his chest and wrapped an arm around his waist. Armin let out a sigh as he slowly wakes up and presses a gentle kiss to Eren’s shoulder. "I'm sorry love did I wake you? I didn't mean to." Eren rubs Armins back gently before looking back over at Hannes.

"You don't have to look at me like you hate me kid, it's 3 in the afternoon it's time to get up. I was just coming by to check on you, you haven't called in ages." Hannes leaned against the wall opposite the bed. "I don't have time to make house calls like this all the time Eren, you know your mom made me-"

"I know Hannes!" Eren sighs and looks down at Armin. He presses his lips to Armin’s head, as the blonde sleepily looked up at him smiling. Eren smiles down at Armin before pulling him closer. "Look I promised Armin I'd get us food when we woke up, do you want to join us?" Eren looks up as Hannes nods, Eren gently shakes Armin’s shoulder, "Baby, you awake?” Hannes watches Eren and smiles seeing someone was able to pull him out of the darkness that's surrounded him his whole life. "Five more minutes for you okay?" Armin nods cuddling into the pillows as Eren gets up. He walks into the kitchen and grabs a water bottle from the fridge and downs it in one go.

Hannes follows after Eren and leans on the doorway. "Eren.” Eren hums in response as he stretches his arms up. "Glad you found someone kid." Hannes smiles at him while Eren just rolls his eyes before a smile forces its way onto his face. Hannes just smirks at the kid before grabbing him and putting him in a headlock, "I can still kick your ass though." He laughs as Eren pulls at his arm, and what a sight it is for a still sleepy Armin to walk in on.

The two don't notice the blonde until a sort, "Eren." grabs Eren’s attention. He looks over at where the sound comes from and smiles. "What's going on? Who's this guy?" Eren shoves Hannes off him before walking over to Armin and wraps his arms around the smaller boy's waist. Armin melts into Eren resting his head on his shoulder before bringing his arms up and around the brunette's neck.

Eren brings a hand up to the back of Armin’s neck, “Baby, this is Hannes. He's a friend of my mother. He comes by to check on me every now and then. He's gonna join us for lunch okay Blondie?" Armin nods before he looks up at Eren. "Do you need some coffee?"

"Yes, please. Oh, and it's nice to meet you, sorry I'm not talkative right now I overslept cause someone didn't wanna get up." Armin turned to Hannes and smiled as he rubbed his eyes. Eren walks over and starts making coffee after pressing a kiss to Armin’s shoulder, "I'm gonna go get dressed Eren." Armin walks back into Eren‘s room and changes into his jeans. _'I'd rather not wear the same outfit twice in a row, I doubt Eren would mind if I borrowed one of his.'_ He looked through Eren’s closet and grabbed a black t-shirt without looking at the front, it says **"fuck you you fucking fuck"** on the front. Armin walked to Eren’s dresser and started gathering the top half of his hair before looking in the mirror on top. He saw the writing on the shirt he grabbed and laughed as he put the gathered hair up in a ponytail.

Eren poured coffee into 3 mugs handing one to Hannes before carrying the other two into his room, "Baby? Coffee’s ready." He walks over to Armin offering one of the mugs that the blonde took from him smiling. Eren leans in pressing his lips to Armin’s smiling as he grabs the back of his head. The blonde smiles into the kiss before pulling away to take a much-needed sip of his coffee. Eren looked down noticing the shirt Armin had on, "That’s the shirt you're wearing?" He asked chuckling lightly, "Oh man I hope you don't turn into me Blondie."

"I doubt I will babe, I don't plan on sleeping with a professor." Armin smirks at Eren from behind his mug. Eren's face drops in shock before he just stares at Armin with his mouth open.

"Wooow..... We're already picking on me for that." Eren laughs before grabbing the blonde’s waist and pulling him up against himself. "You are ruthless." Armin smiles innocently as he shrugs after putting down his mug. Eren kisses Armin briefly before pulling away and rubs small circles in the blonde's back with his thumb. "I gotta get dressed so we can head out." Eren presses his lips to the other's forehead as he lets go then makes his way to his closet. He grabs a black and white striped long sleeve and a pair of ripped black jeans, quickly throwing them on. Armin finished his coffee and got his shoes on before taking the two empty mugs to the sink. Eren threw a black band shirt on over the long sleeve and quickly put his combat boots on.

"So kid, what do you do?" Hannes asked Armin as he left his mug in the sink.

Armin hopped up on the counter and leaned against one of the cabinets. "I'm majoring in oceanography at Rose College. I just turned in my Junior thesis."

"On yeah? On what?"

"Upper Ocean and Submesoscale Processes." Armin looked over at Hannes to see his face twisted up in confusion. He started laughing, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Hannes watches the blonde smiling as one-word circles through his mind to describe him as _'Sunshine'_. Armin calms down from laughing and wipes the tears off his face, "I'm sorry Hannes, I don't mean to laugh I just find it funny that it sounds like gibberish to some people." Armin takes a deep breath before looking at Hannes. "Basically it's about ocean currents interacting with other bodies of water."

“Don’t feel too bad about yourself Hannes, Armin’s just 100 times nerdier than us." Eren teased as he walked into the room. Immediately finding his place between Armin’s legs he leaned his back against him. Armin quickly wrapped his arms around Eren’s shoulders. "What do you wanna eat baby?” Eren asked leaning his head on Armin’s shoulder.

“Ramen and dumplings?” Armin suggested to which the other two shrugged in agreement. Eren tapped Armin’s thighs prompting the blonde to wrap his legs around him. Armin laughed lightly as Eren lifted him up and proceeded to carry him out of the apartment. Hannes leads them to his car and they all got in with Eren riding shotgun. Eren reaches a hand back behind his seat and motions for Armin to take his hand. Armin grabs Eren’s hand smiling while looking out the window. "You never told me what you do Hannes.”

"I'm a security officer, I'm contracted to a couple of places like sports stadiums and some smaller concert venues. It's nothing flashy but they don't notice if you indulge in a drink or two while on the clock." Hannes chuckles as he pulls up to the restaurant.

Eren gets out of the car and opens Armin’s door before offering a hand to him to help him out of the car. Armin smiles and takes his hand as he gets out of the car. The three walk in and sit down at one of the tables. Even sat on the inside of the booth next to Armin while Hannes sat across from them. They all ordered their food and made some small talk until Hannes brought up a less than pleasant event coming up. "Eren you know the memorial is next weekend right?"

"Hannes!" Eren stared at Hannes angrily. "Yea I know can we not talk about this right now?" His leg started bouncing as he cursed himself mentally for taking the inside seat. Eren rested his elbows on the table clasping one hand around his fist.

"Memorial? What for?" Armin asked looking at Hannes as he crossed his arms on the table.

Hannes awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck looking down at his lap. "Guess he hasn't told you about this." Hannes looked back up and over to Eren who avoided looking at anyone by fixing his gaze out the window resting his chin on his hands. “Eren lost his mom when he was little and we haven’t seen his dad since long before that. I took him in until he was old enough to live on his own but I try to keep an eye on him still cause as much of a brat as he is, I still care about him. I was kinda like an unrelated uncle while Carla was around. We have a memorial service for her every year just a few of us that were close to her."

Eren wanted to run like he always did when he got anxious and uncomfortable. His fight or flight response was in overdrive but he couldn't fight his way out of this and he knew that. His breathing became shallow and uneven the longer he felt trapped. Eren started fidgeting with his mothers' ring that he kept on his left middle finger, he had really slender fingers for a guy so it fits perfectly. "Thanks, Hannes this is exactly what I wanted to think about today." He snapped as he gave Hannes a cold glare.

"You're lucky you had Hannes, Eren.” Armin said quietly looking down at the table. Eren started to respond before Armin cut him off. "My parents were killed in a bank robbery when I was 7, so my grandpa took me in. 2 years later he had a heart attack while working out on the field of his farm. My family was really closed off and didn't care to make friends so I was put in a group home where I met Mikasa. She started working at 14 to save up for an apartment for us and I delved into my studies to try to get a full ride to college. We didn't let a lot of people in back then, Jean was the first to break our wall down while we were in middle school." His words came out quiet and almost empty. At some point during his story, Armin had leaned back on the back of the booth and was looking straight ahead blankly. "Jean helped break us out of our shells and we found some amazing friends through him. Don't get me wrong we love them dearly, I mean they brought light back into our lives, but we still lacked any real guardians. We had to grow up pretty quickly and take care of ourselves heaven knows the group home staff wasn't going to, they just treated us like pets." Armin shook his head before looking between the two. "Sorry I didn't mean to go on such a tangent."

"Armin...." Eren looked at him almost tearing up.

"I only meant to say I was envious you still had something like a family to look after you, I didn't mean to dump all of that on you two." Armin leaned forward again resting his elbows on the table as he buried his face in his hands. "I really am sorry you guys, I guess I was just holding that in for a while."

"C’mere kid I'm told I give good dad hugs." Hannes slides out of the booth and walks over to Armin and holds his arms out. Armin lifts his head out of his hands his eyes follow Hannes before he quickly gets up and tightly wraps his arms around him burying his face in the older man's chest. Hannes wraps one arm around Armin’s waist and holds the back of his head with his other hand. "I'm gonna give you my number if you or your friend ever need something you can call me okay? No kid should have to go through life without something like a guardian. I'm far from perfect but I do what I can." Armin nodded as a single tear trailed down his face. Eren gets out of the booth before putting a hand on Armin’s shoulder awkwardly, he wasn't great at the whole comforting thing.

Armin looks up from Hannes' chest to Eren before he grabs his shirt and pulls him into the hug. Eren stumbles into the two blondes before wrapping an arm around Armin resting his head on top of the shorter blonde. Hannes chuckles letting ago of Armin so Eren can hold him and sat back down. Eren awkwardly mimicked Hannes' hug holding him close.

"SASHA! You're late you've got a table to tend to hurry up!" Someone shouted from the back. Armin looked over at the door where Sasha was.

"Sasha?!" Armin gasped seeing his high school friend.

"No way! Armin? What are you doing here?! I haven't seen you since Conny’s birthday!" Sasha ran over to her friend who lept into her arms and they held each other tightly. After a little bit, she held him at arm's length, "Are you sitting here?" She asked to which Armin nodded and her eyes lit up, “You’re in my section! Gimme like two seconds I gotta put my bag in the back and put on my apron, I'll be right back!" She rushed off to the back and Armin sat back down in the booth.

"Sasha's one of my friends from high school, I haven't seen her in seven months?" Armin looks over at Eren and presses a quick kiss to his lips. Eren grabs Armin’s hand under the table intertwining their fingers together.

Sasha comes back to the table carrying their food over on a tray. "Okay, so I know the Kagoshima is Armin’s, who got the Okinawa soba?” Hannes raised his hand as Sasha sets Armin’s down, "Awesome, so you got the Kurume?" She asked as she placed Hannes' down. Eren nodded and Sasha put his down followed by the plate of dumplings. "Mind if I sit here?" She asked Hannes and he shook his head before starting to eat. She sat down putting the tray behind her. "How've you been? It's been months." She was taking care to avoid mentioning Jean, not knowing how he was handling it.

"It’s been way too long, sorry I got so outta touch. I was in rough shape after the breakup. But I'm good now, I aced my junior thesis Friday. Mikasa and I just moved into a new apartment four months ago, you and Conny have to come over and check it out soon, it's got a beautiful view of the ocean."

"Definitely! We'd love to see Mikasa again." She smiled brightly at Armin, leaning on the table. "And I'm glad to hear you're doing well, Conny and I wanted to check-in but it seemed like you just needed some space. Oh, who's he?" She asked pointing at Eren. "Also who's this guy?" She aimed her finger at Hannes.

"Well this is Eren," Armin locks eyes with Eren before dopey grins make their way onto both faces. "My boyfriend." Sasha's jaw drops as Eren winks at Armin causing the blonde to blush faintly. "Oh and that's ‘Uncle Hannes'."

"Hold on." Sasha fumbles with her phone and scrolls through her pictures. She held it up after finding a picture of Jean. Armin turns his head to look at her phone. "You’re telling me you went from this," She points at the picture with her free hand. "to that?" Sasha points at Eren with her eyebrow quirked up in confusion. Eren gets an offended look on his face before Armin nods smiling. "Well damn, you know he's still like a brother to me, but talk about an upgrade. What do you do Eren?"

"I'm a music major over at Sina University and about 3-4 nights a week my band and I perform at different bars in the area. That’s how I met Armin, we were playing at Mikasa’s bar. It's actually our collective favorite bar to play at, great atmosphere." Eren turns to Armin, who's holding up a dumpling to him, and opens his mouth allowing Armin to feed it to him.

Meanwhile, Sasha is holding her head in disbelief, she appears to be frozen. Hannes tries gently poking her shoulder, “Uh... I think you broke her."

"Nah just give her a minute, this happens a lot." Armin waves off Hannes' concern before taking a sip of his drink.

“YOU'RE DATING A MUSICIAN?!" Sasha all but screams. "Wait since when do you go to bar shows? You never went to them. Also when is your next show? Conny and I have been dying to go to a bar show but we couldn't find any."

"See? Told you she's fine. Mikasa basically dragged me to that show, she wanted me to try a night out. Trust me I haven't changed all that much."

"Did I ever send you the video someone took of us performing that song?" Eren asked with his head slightly tilted.

Armin's eyes shot open, “There’s a video....?" Eren nodded at Armin smirking.

"Bertholdt’s girlfriend, Annie, took it. She's a great videographer. Wanna see it, Sasha?" Eren pulled his phone out as Sasha nodded aggressively. Eren scrolls through his phone to find the video. “It’s not one we’re gonna post to our channel for the privacy sake of Armin but it looks great.” Eren hands Sasha his phone before wrapping an arm around Armin, whose face is as red as a tomato. “I’m kind of over the top when I’m performing, but it’s fun and everyone seems to like it.”

Armin just buried his face in Eren’s chest. “In my defense, I was pretty tipsy, Mikasa only makes strong drinks but didn’t tell me!” Armin whines softly while Eren rubs his back.

“I thought you did great baby.” Eren pressed a kiss to Armin’s head chuckling at the blonde's quiet mumbling about how 'he's never gonna drink again' and 'he just wants to go hide in some ocean cave with the fishies'. "Oh also we're actually playing Mikasa’s bar again this Friday, you and Conny should come we’ve got a killer setlist in mind."

"Armin! Who knew you were so bold? I'm impressed and Eren, you have an amazing voice, seriously." Sasha handed Eren his phone back bowing his head slightly at the compliment. "And yea we're both free Friday, we'll be there. Is Mikasa working Friday? Do you know Armin?" Sasha asked as a small blush appeared on her cheeks.

"She’s a bartender and it's a Friday, of course, she is." Armin stated without looking up from Eren’s chest, however, the blush didn't go unnoticed by the brunette. He smirked slightly as an idea pops into his head.

"You've never told Mikasa you're into her have you, Sasha?" Eren asks simply looking out the window. Armin’s head snaps up in confusion. " I'd say something before someone else steals her heart. At least one show a week I'd have to save her from some creep hitting on her."

Armin laughs lightly, "Don’t be silly Sasha's dating Nicolo right Sa-“ Armin turns to Sasha seeing her now red face. His eyes widen, " Why didn't you tell me? I could've tried to- actually I get why, I would've slipped up in excitement."

"I've been trying to work up the guts for the last 2 years. Nicolo knew we were never a thing." Sasha dropped her head on the table. "I don't even know how to-"

Eren cut her off handing her his phone. "Find a song that either best describes her, or your feelings for her. My band and I learn songs quickly so we'll be able to perform it Friday." Eren looks at Sasha smiling. “I don't have guts to say stuff like that either, not without music. It's my biggest form of communication. The plus side to that, music is universally understood, so it resonates and people respond to that."

“Sing this with me? I'd be too nervous alone but I should be a part of it, she deserves that." Sasha explains as she plays an acoustic song. "If you don't know guitar, I can pick a different-"

"If the first round's on you," Eren holds out his hand, "then you got a deal." Sasha smiles and shakes his hand. "Gimme two days to learn instrumental and work out my vocals, I'll have Armin give me your number schedule a studio/practice session at Sina.”

“SASHA! YOU HAVE ANOTHER TABLE NOW!”

"Gotta run it was great meeting you." Sasha rushes off to tend to the couple sat in her section.

"How long have you realized that about your relationship to music, Eren? I knew since you were young, but I thought you were totally oblivious." Hannes said making Eren jump a bit, kinda forgot he was there.

"Started realizing it in senior year? I think the summer going into my sophomore year at Sina I had it pretty much figured out." Eren explained without hostility or sarcasm, he was smiling. "Music‘s easy and beautiful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's been commenting positivity on this story. It means a lot, I had actually forgotten how much I love writing. I hope you continue to enjoy it :)
> 
> Also how is it chapter 2 has 48 notes on tumblr but chapter one only has 10


	4. "She"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The nerves start to kick in for Sasha before her confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter uses the song, "she" by dodie.

Armin was laid out on Eren’s bed in an oversized purple sweater and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. He decided to leave his hair down so he's taken to tucking his hair behind his ears. Holding his head up with one hand, he has his assigned reading for class open on his laptop and his notebook in front of him. It's a quiet room aside from Eren, sitting on the edge of the bed with his guitar, practicing the song Sasha picked out.

"Sasha really picked a good song to confess with, I think anything crazy over the top isn't exactly Mikasa’s style." Eren said as he continued playing. He had on a black t-shirt with an Oscar Wilde quote on the front and ripped-up black jeans.

"Over the top like the night we met?" Armin teased with a smile, "I think you're right, she's a bit more reserved than a certain someone I know." Armin hears Eren chuckle before a comfortable silence falls over them aside from the soft guitar. A few minutes pass before Armin puts his pencil down and moves silently to kneel behind Eren. He wraps his arms around the brunette’s shoulders before pressing gentle kisses to his neck. "I think it's great you're doing this for Sasha."

"It's like I said, music is easy to understand. Plus it's easy to use someone else's words to explain your feelings." Eren leans into his little ray of sunshine, “Guess that could be a warning, I'm bad at words, especially in intense situations." He lets out a sigh putting the guitar down, leaning it against the bed.

“Oh no my boyfriends gonna sing for me. Whatever will I do?" Armin laughed resting his head on Eren’s shoulder. "I think I'll manage babe." He smiles relaxing into Eren, nuzzling his face into the other boy's neck. "Besides I like watching you perform whether it's for me or not."

"Oh yeah, sunshine?" Eren smiles reaching up to run a hand through Armin’s hair gently. "I'm glad you enjoy watching, I like having you there. Come here." He tugged on Armin’s sweater pulling the blonde onto his lap and held him close. Using his thumb Eren traced gentle circles into Armin’s lower back.

"You know you are pretty good at the whole boyfriend thing. I thought I'd have to take the lead for a bit to show you the ropes, but you seem to be something of a natural." Armin smiles resting his forehead on Eren’s tangling a hand in his hair.

"It’s easy if it's for you, I like your smile. I'd do anything to get a smile from you." His eyes flutter closed feeling fingers in his hair. "Can I ask you about Jean? He seemed like an important part of your life, are you really okay he's out of it now?" Eren asked moving his head to rest on Armin’s shoulder.

"Not really, I mean we were together for 5 years. The first 3 1/2 years he was pretty amazing to me." Armin starts playing with Eren’s hair holding him close. "He always made sure Mikasa and I had enough to eat and he was patient with me opening up to him. He was always there if I needed him. Not long after we started college it started getting bad. We just didn't want to admit it wasn't working, I think." Armin smiles softly thinking back on all the memories.

"That’s a lot to live up to, I'm gonna pale in comparison." Eren let out a resigned sigh before opening his eyes. "Are you sure you want someone subpar?" Armin grabs the sides of Eren’s face and lifting his head. The two make eye contact and, just for a moment, get lost in the eyes of each other.

"Don't ever try to be Jean. No matter who it is, no one can ever compare to someone's first love. At the end of the day, he and I couldn't make it work, so I don't want a new Jean-kinda-love." Armin ran his thumb across Eren’s cheek. "I just want an Eren-kinda-love. Okay?" Eren leans into Armin’s hand before turning his head slightly to press a kiss to Armin’s palm and nods. "Good." Armin wraps his arms around the brunette's neck and leans down pressing his lips against Eren’s roughly. The force of the kiss knocking Eren onto his back, making the pair smile.

Armin propped himself on his forearm before continuing the kiss and running his tongue against Eren’s lower lip. The brunette’s eyebrow quirked up in surprise at the sudden assertiveness, but Eren obliged letting Armin’s tongue explore his mouth. Armin reaches his free hand up and tugs gently on the dark locks. Eren lets out a soft groan as he brings one hand down to grip the blonde's hip. His other hand sips under Armin’s shirt and trails his fingers gently against his skin. Eventually, the two realize they desperately need air and reluctantly pull away from the kiss panting heavily. "Shit sunshine didn't know you could be so commanding.." Eren says after somewhat catching his breath.

Just as Armin was about to respond his phone started ringing. He groaned slightly before recognizing the ringtone, “Oh shit, it's Sasha." He scrambled to grab his phone as Eren sat back up. Armin answered the call and leaned into Eren’s chest. "Sasha? What's up?"

"Armin I don't know if I can do it! I'm freaking out what if Mika hates me after?"

"Woah okay, calm down. It's Mikasa we're talking about here, she's not gonna hate you for having feelings." Armin says in an attempt to ease her nerves as Eren taps the blonde's shoulder then points to the phone so he can talk to her.

"Sasha? It's Eren. Don't freak out, trust me it feels better to get those feelings out instead of running. I've got the song down already would you feel better if you ran through it a few times?" He hears her pause and takes a few breaths.

"I mean it's worth a try, right? Yeah, sure I'll run through a few times."

"Perfect, I'll have Armin text you my apartment's address. We’ll probably order a pizza or something, Armin got a good idea of what to get you?" Armin nods smiling at Eren. “We’ll see you soon Sasha." there's a quiet 'see ya' before the call ends.

Armin chuckles putting his phone down. "You're funeral if you're buying her food. She eats more than Mika and me combined."

~~~~

"Sasha, you'll feel better after some food, you always do." Armin says trying to hand her the box with her pizza in it. Eren was leaning on the counter enjoying his pizza while Sasha and Armin were talking at the table. Sasha had her face in her hands.

"I'm so nervous Armin, I don't know if I can handle her rejecting me. But if I don't say anything I'll never know. UGH, I hate feelings!" Sasha groaned before laying her face on the table. Armin just casually put the pizza box in front of her with the lid open and pushed it closer to her. He got up and walked over to his shared pizza with Eren before grabbing a piece.

"You sure you shouldn't try to comfort her more?" Eren asked concerned Sasha was still just laying on the table. Armin shook his head before taking a bite of his pizza. "Really? Why not?"

"She does this a lot, whenever she starts eating she'll be fine." Armin was happily enjoying his pizza glancing at Sasha to get a visual update on her. Eren looked over at her still worried. Armin smiled at Eren’s concern. "Babe I promise she's okay, she hasn't changed since high school. She just needs to eat." Armin points to Sasha, who finally started eating, starting to turn back into her old self.

Half-way through her pizza, she had a thought. "Oh, by the way, Armin, Jean said to ask if it was okay to get your number again, he got a new phone and lost it. He said he wants to meet up to ‘apologize for the other night.’ Whatever that means." Sasha walked over to Eren and Armin with her pizza.

"Oh is that so? Yeah, that's fine, it'd be nice to have the old gang back without hostility." Armin smiled as he finished his last slice. He crossed his arms as he looked off into the distance. "Man, the whole gang back together? Shinganshina's fucked when that happens." Sasha chuckles with Armin causing the outsider to become concerned. "You ready to get some practice in Sasha?" Armin asks when he sees her finish her food. She nods and they make their way to spread out on Eren’s bed.

~~~~

Friday comes way too fast for Sasha, she feels like twenty times more confident but she's still a bundle of nerves. She asked Armin if he minded helping her get ready earlier in the week and he said he'd bring a friend to help too. Historia and Sasha hit it off right away, which Armin expected. The three of them spent the first fifteen minutes having "girl talk" as it came to be called by Sasha.

"Okay Sasha what kind of look are we going for? Or do you want us to just put together a few outfits and you pick your favorite?" Historia asked doing her excited wiggle dance. Sasha smiled at Historia, who looked effortlessly perfect in her plaid pleated skirt and black crop top.

"I'll pick an outfit out." Armin and Historia immediately started going through Sasha's closet quietly talking to each other. Sasha found herself cuddling her pillow to comfort herself. She was taking deep breaths mumbling to herself everything would be okay.

"I have never seen you this nervous Sash, it's only Mika, it's not like she's gonna kill you." Connie said smirking from the doorway before walking in and sits beside Sasha. He sees the nervous look still plastered on her face. "C'mere, you weirdo." Connie pulls his best friend into a tight hug. "I'm gonna be there the whole time, I'll even stay sober so I can drive your drunk ass home if it goes bad." Sasha started laughing quietly at her best friends goofiness.

"I know Connie. You're the best." She smiled before resting her head on his shoulder. "Help me pick an outfit? Armin and Historia are putting some together." Connie nods keeping his arms around Sasha.

"Okay! We’re ready!" Armin and Historia walk out with a total of three outfits. "So Historia and I have three very different looks for you. Oh, hey Connie." Armin walked over and gave Connie a big hug.

"Armin! I still have hair and makeup to do after this c'mon. Okay, option one." Historia held up a black dress with a corseted middle and white accents, with a pair of white ballet flats to match. Sasha's face twisted up before giving it a thumbs down. Connie followed suit. "Okay option two." Historia proceeded to hold up an off-the-shoulder white crop top and a pair of red skinny jeans. This outfit comes with a black suede jacket and black combat boots.

"That's a maybe. I haven't worn that jacket before." Sasha smiles as Connie frowns. He huffs crossing his arms over his chest and pouts like a child.

"I got you that for your birthday last year!"

"You did? Wow, a straight man with good taste I'm impressed." Historia says sweetly, "I'm guessing that means Connie's vote is for this one?" He nods but continues pouting causing the three of them to start laughing softly. "This one was all Armin." She holds up a white pleated skirt and a grey v-neck shirt. They pair that with a pair of black chunky heels and a black leather jacket.

"I like that one the most, but I think I'll switch the jacket so Connie's happy." Connie gets a big dopey smile on his face, proving Sasha right. Historia starts on Sasha's hair as Armin gets a call.

"Hey babe, everything okay?" He steps out of the room and leans on the counter in the kitchen.

"Yea the band's excited for Sasha's song, don't tell her but they're gonna be a part of it too. I just wanted to call to say hi." Eren smiles just hearing Armin’s voice.

"Oh well hi there." Armin blushed and looked down at his feet. He had his favorite white converse hightops on with black skinny jeans and a green sweater with a white polo underneath. "You know I don't think I look the part of the lead singer's boyfriend."

"I think you look adorable, sunshine." Eren said kicking Reiner, who was on the other side of the couch, for making fun of him silently. "Who cares if you don't dress the same as me?"

"Armin! I need your opinion!" Historia calls from the bedroom.

"I'll see you soon, looks like they need me." Armin says smiling as he chewed on part of his lower lip."

"See you soon baby." Eren says as they hung up before glaring at Reiner Who was still teasing him. "Fuck off Reiner."

~~~~

Eren had talked Mikasa’s boss into giving her the first set off so she was sitting with everyone in her white button-up and black jeans. Sasha on her left and Armin on her right. She had a weird feeling something was going on but couldn't figure it out. So she kept sneaking glances at Sasha, admiring how her hair perfectly framed her face

Eren walked up to the front of the stage, he had on a dark red turtle neck, his ripped black jeans with bleach splatters all over them, and his black combat boots. His hair was tied back in his signature half-up ponytail. "We are 'The Warriors' we normally do rock and alternative covers but we're helping a friend first tonight. They have something they wanna say to a special someone." Sasha makes her way up to the stage taking the mic from Eren. He grabbed his acoustic guitar from the side of the stage before taking his spot behind the backup‘s mic stand. He gives Sasha an encouraging nod before doing last-minute tuning.

“Uh. Hi, I'm Sasha, and this i-is for you, Mikasa...." She looks at Eren and he starts playing the soft melody. Sasha looks to Mikasa as she starts singing. "Am I allowed to look at her like that? Could it be wrong, when she's just so nice to look at?" Bertholdt picks up his violin and plucks the strings gently. "She smells like lemongrass and sleep. She tastes like apple juice and peach." Eren smiles joining Sasha on vocals for the last part of the chorus. "You would find her in a Polaroid picture. And she means everything to me." Bertholdt switches to playing the violin with the bow as Ymir walks over to Eren and joins in on the harmonies. Sasha turns back briefly shocked at the addition of Ymir and Bertholdt. "I'd never tell, no, I'd never say a word. And oh it aches, but it feels oddly good to hurt." Sasha smiles at Mikasa with a blush on her cheeks. "She smells like lemongrass and sleep. She tastes like apple juice and peach."

Mikasa’s eyes water just a bit as she covers her mouth with her hand. "You would find her in a Polaroid picture. And she means everything to me." Eren smiles seeing Mikasa’s reaction and watches Armin take her free hand in his. He sends a quick wink to his Blondie before the lyrics start again. "And I'll be okay admiring from afar cause even when she's next to me, we could not be more far apart." Sasha's eyes start to tear up as she and Mikasa hold eye contact. "Cause she tastes like birthday cake and storytime and fall. But to her, I taste of nothing at all." Ymir and Eren sing the last chorus with Sasha, Ymir looking over to Historia smiling. "Cause she smells like lemongrass and sleep. She tastes like apple juice and peach. You would find her in a Polaroid picture and she means everything to me. Yes, she means everything to me. She means everything to me."

After the song, Sasha and Mikasa run towards each other before colliding and wrapping their arms around the other tightly. Mikasa buried her face in Sasha's neck letting out uneven breaths. "I've waited two years to tell you, Mika...." Sasha says running a hand through Mikasa’s hair. "Do you want to go outside?"

"Yeah, I could use some air. But first," Mikasa lifts her head and presses her lips to Sasha’s pulling her closes by her waist. Sasha kisses Mikasa back smiling and tangles a hand in her hair. Their table consisting of, Armin, Connie, Historia, Jean, and Marco, plus Eren and his band all started cheering. Sasha and Mikasa in perfect sync raise opposing hands to flip off their table of friends and the band before pulling away from the kiss. The two of them walk outside for privacy.

"Okay! Now back to your regularly scheduled covers!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's liked my story it means so much cause I am having an amazing time writing it.


	5. One Thing Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Ymir dedicate a song to the blondes that turned their lives around while a certain ex seems upset.

Armin and Eren stumble out the front door of the bar on one of the band's breaks, both of them with a few drinks in their systems. The moment they get outside Eren grabs the blonde's waist and presses his lips against his roughly. Armin wraps his arms around the singer's neck while getting pinned against the wall. The two of them sigh against the other's lips pulling each other as close they can.

"Ew get a room you two." Sasha says from her spot on the bench with Mikasa’s head resting on her shoulder. Armin just flips Sasha off laughing quietly, his lips millimeters from Eren’s. Eren buries his face in the blonde's neck, kissing and nipping at any skin he can reach.

"If anything, you should blame Eren, he talked me into drinking tonight." Armin tries his hardest to keep his composure, so he's not embarrassing himself in front of his friends, as Eren expertly leaves a dark red hickey at the base of the blonde's neck. Eren smirks at his handiwork as he leans back to look at Armin. "You left a hickey didn't you?" The brunette nods proudly before pressing a gentle kiss to his boyfriend‘s lips. Armin smirks before dragging Eren out of sight of Mikasa and Sasha.

"Blondie...? What are-" Eren groans as he's pressed against a wall and two slender arms trap him on either side. He chuckled in amusement as his favorite blonde surprises him once again. Eren wraps his arms around Armin‘s neck gently while the shorter one slides one hand down the wall stopping at the same height as Eren’s waist.

"Returning the favor, I just prefer privacy." Armin slips his fingers under Eren’s shirt, gently digging his nails into the singer‘s waist. He pulls the brunette's waist against him leaning on the hand still resting on the wall before running his nose gently against Eren’s neck. "You are the one on stage afterall, I don't want anyone thinking they have a chance." A small blush forms on Eren’s face as Armin bites right next to his Adam's Apple leaving a mark for everyone to see. The blonde trails light kisses down the singer's neck making him bite on his lower lip his mind racing. 

Normally Eren takes on the more dominant role in his relationships, affairs, whatever you want to call them. So the fact that this little blondie has gotten the upper hand on him twice now, blew his mind and seems to have brought out a new side to him. Eren tilted his head back resting it against the wall as he tangles a hand in the blonde locks. A buzzing sensation went through Eren’s head sending a shiver down his spine as Armin bit the skin right under his left ear. He worked another hickey into his skin as he gently trailed his nails up Eren’s back, sending shivers through his whole body.

Armin smirks bringing his lips against Eren’s ear whispering softly. "You're uncharacteristically quiet, Eren. Something wrong?" Eren not trusting his voice just shook his head no as Armin dragged his nails down his back. "Good." Armin pressed a gentle kiss to the brunette's jaw before stepping back and removing his hand from his waist hearing footsteps approaching that Eren didn't notice.

"Baby-"

"There you are! I was so worried about you Armin! I had no idea where you went!" Historia said as she and Ymir rounded the corner. The moment they were in view Armin was leaning against the balcony railing behind him with the most innocent look on his face. Historia wrapped her arms around Armin briefly. "That was the sweetest confession ever. Mikasa actually teared up! I had to pay Jean fifteen bucks for that bet." Historia pulled away before Ymir wrapped her arms around her waist pulling her close. Armin smiled before looking back at Eren with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Nice hickies Eren." Ymir teased with a smirk. Eren glared at his bassist from his spot on the wall, still needing deep breaths to slow his racing heart. "Who knew this little blonde angel had it in him? I'm impressed, Armin." Ymir looked over, seeing the mark on Armin. She chuckled pressing a kiss to the top of Historia's head.

Eren’s eyes shifted to look at Armin. "I don't think an angel is a proper description anymore." Eren said with an amused smirk on his face. He closed his eyes and silently prayed Mikasa went to Sasha's or literally anywhere but her and Armin‘s after the show, so he could get his revenge on the blonde in front of him.

"Historia, come to the bar with me, I want another drink." Armin said as he stood up from the balcony. He walked to Eren pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek before walking off with Historia. Ymir takes over Armin‘s spot against the railing as Eren’s legs give out and he slides down the wall until he's sitting on the ground.

"He's got you wrapped around his finger already, huh?" Ymir questioned to which Eren nodded his eyes still closed. "I guess I'm not one to talk though, I'd do anything for her." Ymir sighed grabbing her pack of smokes out of her pocket. "What the hell happened to us huh? We were having a grand time not being tied down to one person and all it took was a bright-eyed blondie to turn our world's upside-down." Eren chuckles at that she wasn't wrong, but it didn't scare him. He felt Ymir poke his knee so he opened his eyes and immediately accepted the offered cigarette. He dug a lighter from his pocket, holding the cigarette in his mouth, and lighting it. He handed Ymir his lighter as Armin came back with two drinks in hand.

"Two things, one Ymir, Historia has your drink inside. Eren this one's for you." Armin said handing one to Eren. The brunette took the drink as he blew smoke out in the opposite direction of Armin. The blonde sat next to him on the ground before grabbing the cigarette from Eren. "Two, you're sharing that." Armin brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled the smoke with ease, which surprised Eren and Ymir. "What? I don't get why you're so surprised Eren, I didn't exactly have an easy life, you know this." Armin took another drag off the cigarette before handing it back to Eren.

"I have more if you just want your own." Ymir said tossing Eren back his lighter. Armin nodded and caught the cigarette tossed his way. Armin set his drink down next to him and put the cig between his lips before holding his hand out for the lighter. Eren puts his cig in his mouth before grabbing Armin‘s chin and turns his face towards him. The brunette leaned in close keeping his eyes locked on Armin‘s as he gently pressed his lit cig to the blonde's unlit one. Once Armin‘s cig was lit he let go of his chin and leaned back against the wall. The blonde smirked while he took a drag of his cigarette before pulling one of the brunette's arms around his shoulders. Eren smiled pulling the boy closer to him resting his head on top of Armin‘s.

Ymir fake gagged at them before taking a long haul off her cig. "Oh, yea real mature Ymir." Eren rolled his eyes smiling, “You’re just grumpy your person stayed inside." Eren stuck his tongue out at her and inhaled more of his cigarette.

"Because sticking your tongue out is so much more grown-up?" Armin questioned as he blew out smoke. He smiled feeling more comfortable with Eren than he ever really felt with Jean, however, he reminded himself that could be the alcohol talking but he was pretty doubtful. The trio all finished their smokes and went back inside. Armin sat down at his table with his friends and Ymir walked to the stage winking at Historia. Eren grabbed Armin‘s face gently and pressed his lips to the blonde's roughly. Mostly because Jean was staring and Eren felt like pissing him off because he wasn't gonna like him regardless of if Armin and he fixed things. Eren walked up to the stage and huddled up with them to talk songs.

Armin started quietly talking with Historia and didn't notice Jean's lingering stare.  _'He certainly looks happier'_ Jean felt his chest tighten as Armin laughed,  _‘What the hell..... I'm the one that left...' _Jean snaps out of his thoughts feeling Marco grab his thigh gently under the table. He leans in with his head tilted with a look of concern on his face. Jean smiled grabbing the back of Marco's head, pulling him close pressing a kiss to his temple.

Reiner pokes the hickie by Eren’s Adam Apple smirking causing the dark-haired boy to groan and jerk his head back. Bertholdt had his arm around Annie and she leaned up whispering something in his ear making them both smirk. Bertholdt nods pressing his lips to her forehead and she walks back to her tripod doing last-minute checks on her camera. Bertholdt puts the guitar strap over his shoulder and taps the mic getting everyone's attention, "Hey guys so this next song’s a little different. Two of my bandmates want to dedicate it-"

"Bertholdt! You're not supposed to say it!" Eren says into his mic leaning on his mic stand chuckling. He looks to the audience shrugging his shoulders trying to play it off as a joke. "It's a band secret for a reason!"

"Anyways Armin and Historia this is from Eren and Ymir." Bertholdt smirks and bumps his knuckles against Reiner’s, who was laughing into his other hand. Ymir buries her face in her hands and Eren tilts his head back, putting his hickies on full display, rolling his eyes.

“NICE HICKIES DUDE!" someone called from the audience causing the room to roar with laughter. 

Eren smiles widely as he brings his head back down. His eyes dart to Armin briefly. "Hey! I'll wear these with pride alright. Have you seen my boyfriend?" Eren winks at Armin with a smirk before looking over to Bertholdt and nods before starting the song. "I've cheated and I've lied, I've broke down and I've cried, I've got nothing to hide no more." Eren turned back to the audience his eyes make their way to Armin and he smiles."I've loved and I've hurt, I've broken people down with words, more grace than I deserve, for sure." Ymir joins in on the harmonies her eyes on Historia."Known to be crazy, known to be wild, Mama had herself a little devilish child, ain't no stranger to the troubles at my door."

Eren places his hand over his heart while Ymir winks at Historia. "I've been at the wrong place at the wrong time, chasing all the wrong things most of my life, been every kind of lost that you can't find.But I got one thing right." Eren looks over at Armin smiling. The blonde rested his head in his hand watching Eren with a smile. Everyone outside the two of them would tell you Eren and Armin had the biggest case of heart eyes for each other, no matter where they were or even what they were doing. There were just moments, like this, where the only thing they can see is each other."Been the kind of guy girls' mommas don't like, running with the wrong crowd on the wrong nights, ‘cause I've been wrong about a million times. But I got one thing right, you. I got you." Eren pointed right at Armin with a wink. Ymir smiled at Historia as they sang the next line. "Baby, I got one thing right, I got one thing right.

Eren walks over to Armin taking his hand and pulling him into his chest gently before continuing the song singing into his ear. He swayed gently holding his little ray of sunshine close to his body. Armin smiled leaning his back into Eren‘s chest. "You saw right through my pain, kept us patient while I change. Never even crossed your mind to walk away." Armin turns in Eren’s arms wrapping his arms around the taller boy's neck. He buries his face in the brunette's neck and placed a gentle kiss against the skin. "When I was getting crazy, reckless and wild, acting like my mama's little devilish child. It took a heart like yours to find its place." Eren smiled spreading his fingers to cover the small of Armin‘s back, tracing small circles with his thumb. And what Eren wouldn't give to stay just like this, with his favorite blonde cuddled into him."I've been at the wrong place at the wrong time, chasing all the wrong things most of my life, been every kind of lost that you can't find. But I got one thing right."

Armin let out a soft sigh, melting into Eren’s touch. "Been the kind of guy girls' mommas don't like, running with the wrong crowd on the wrong nights, I've been wrong about a million times, but I got one thing right, you." Jean glares at the oblivious couple, lost in their own bubble. "I got you, I got one thing right."  _‘He’s gonna break you, Armin.'_ Jean watched Armin and Eren stare into each other's, eyes the rest of the word invisible. "I've been wrong about a million times, but I got one thing right, I got one thing right. I've been at the wrong place at the wrong time, chasing all the wrong things most of my life." Jean frowns seeing the smile on Armin‘s face, that used to be reserved for him.  _'He's not good.'_ "Been every kind of lost that you can't find, but I got one thing right, been the kind of guy girls' mommas don't like, running with the wrong crowd on the wrong nights." Armin‘s hand rests over Eren’s heart and is looking up at him the way he used to look at Jean, full of admiration.  _'I'm not one to talk, I know.' _ "I've been wrong about a million times, but I got one thing right, you, I got you." Jean looks away trying to find anything else to look at, aside from his ex. "I got one thing right, I've been at the wrong place at the wrong time, chasing all the wrong things most of my life. Been every kind of lost that you can't find, but I got one thing right."

Eren presses his lips to Armin‘s after the song ends before leaning in, his lips brushing against the blonde's ear. "Your place free tonight Blondie?" Eren whispered softly and smirked hearing the blonde's breath hitch. Armin nodded slowly as the singer pulled back to look at his favorite blonde. Eren kissed his temple gently before walking to the stage. Ymir had stepped off briefly and had Historia in her arms. Armin sat down his heart pounding in his chest as he watched his boyfriend on stage. He chewed on his lip as he memorized the way his hand holds the microphone, the way his muscles flexed through his shirt, and most importantly his voice. How low and high he could go, what words came out raspy, basically everything about his voice.

For the rest of their show, Eren takes any chance he can to watch Armin out of the corner of his eye. He watched every little thing, how his nose scrunched up when he laughed, the way his eyes glazed over when their eyes met, the curl at the corner of his lips when he smiled. Everything. In the last two breaks they had in their show Eren was sat on Armin‘s lap his arms around the blonde's neck. He swears his reason for it is only 15% to get under Jean's skin. Eventually, the show ends everyone heads to their chosen place of rest for the night.

The moment the door to Armin‘s bedroom is closed Eren’s got his hands hooked under Armin‘s thighs and his lips attacking his neck in gentle bites and kisses. He lifts the smaller one up and pushes him against the door groaning as he feels a hand tug on his hair. Armin wraps his legs around Eren’s waist as he tilts the brunette's face up to press lips together roughly. Eren brought a hand up to Armin‘s shoulder and pushed the sweater down, groaning when it wouldn't go past his elbow. He knew they definitely need to slow down and make sure they're on the same page, his brain just gets fuzzy around the blonde. He felt Armin yank on his hair, groaning as he’s pulled from the kiss and looks up at his boyfriend before the tugging on his hair sent his eyes rolling back. Armin smirked as he leaned down to Eren’s ear chuckling. “Oh, I'm gonna have fun with you.." Armin trailed a line of kisses from his ear down his jawline. "See, I am what they call a switch, I like being in control as much as I love surrendering control." He shrugged off his sweater letting it fall to the floor before grabbing Eren’s hair, pulling on it gently. "If I want control I'll make it very clear, okay baby?"

Eren lets out the softest whimper as he nods before looking up at Armin with soft eyes. "If I'm honest, I don’t think I'd let anyone else get away with that." his eyes fluttered shut as he felt nails gently scratching his scalp. "I'm not rushing you am I?" Armin kissed Eren gently as his answer, which led to the blonde getting carried to the bed and laid back pulling the dark-haired boy on top of him. Eren pulled his shirt off shivering as he felt nails gently drag down his chest. "Fucking hell Blondie." Eren grabbed Armin‘s wrists pinning them over his head with one hand. He leaned down brushing his lips against the blonde's neck. "You know, you gave me two marks, I think I should even the score." Armin let out a quiet moan as he felt teeth scrape down his neck gently. Eren drags his free hand up the smaller one's stomach pushing the hem of his shirt up. He let go of the blonde’s hands who immediately pulls his shirt off as Eren kissed down Armin‘s stomach and over to his left hip. His much thinner build caused his hip bones to stick out slightly as he laid down. Eren bites right above the hip bone and works a dark red mark into the pale skin, the sounds coming from Armin‘s parted lips drove Eren crazy. Satisfied with the hickey he left the brunette kissed this way up to his boyfriend's chest and hovered over him smirking down at him. The smirk only lasted so long, Armin grabbed the chain around Eren’s neck and pulled him down into a rough kiss.

~~~~

Eren laid next to Armin both of them still trying to catch their breath before Eren curled up on the blonde's chest wrapping an arm around his waist. "That was intense... Give me a minute or two and I'll run us a hot bath okay?" Armin smiled sleepily as he ran a hand through Eren's hair humming in response. It's about 3 in the morning and they got to Armin‘s a little past midnight, as exhausted as they were, neither of them wanted to sleep. The brunette smiled as he listened to his boyfriend's heartbeat, his eyes shut gently. "You know before that night Ymir and I were both content with just kinda sleeping around, not getting tied down to one person, we were living the "rockstar" life. Now? Neither of us wants to go back to living like that. All it took was a nice to blonde to turn everything upside-down, in the best way possible." He nuzzled further into the blonde under him, tightening his hold on his waist. "Thank you, for finding me."

"Who are you, and what have you come with Eren?" Armin teased softly smiling to himself. Eren laughed lightly as a peaceful silence fell over them for a few minutes. The brunette sat up, slowly mumbling something about the bath, and got up walking over to the bathroom. He started the water waiting for it to get hot before plugging the drain. When it was 3/4ths full he went back to the bed and pressed a kiss to Armin‘s head as he picked him up and carried him back to the bathroom. He set Armin down in the tub before turning off the water then sitting behind Armin in the tub. The blonde snuggled into his chest nuzzling his face in Eren’s neck while Eren wrapped his arms around Armin. "I told you you're somehow a total natural at this. Jean never did this ya know?" Armin pointed out, he knew Eren was still comparing himself to Jean, it wasn't hard to tell. So instead of getting mad, he opted to point out the places Eren excelled in that Jean lacked in hopes he'd eventually outgrow this phase.

"Ha, suck it, Jean." Armin rolled his eyes fondly smiling against Eren’s skin. Eren pressed his lips to the top of Armin‘s head and started humming quietly, holding his blonde close. He mindlessly brought a hand up to run through Armin‘s hair as the humming continued.

"I'm kinda sleepy, Eren." Armin mumbled right before as if on cue, he let out a small yawn. He wrapped his arms around the boy's neck. "It's bedtime...." Eren smiled and got up carefully before picking up Armin and setting them on the counter. He grabbed a towel and quickly dried the sleepy boy in front of him before drying himself off. Armin made a grabby hand at Eren, "Carry me...." Eren stood in front of Armin and hooked his arms around the blonde's thighs pulling the boy to his waist. Armin wrapped his arms around the brunette's neck pressing a gentle kiss to his boyfriend's forehead. He gave Eren a sleepy smile as he was laid on the bed and cuddled into his chest the moment he got in bed. "Good night baby."

"Good night, sunshine." Eren kissed his head and the two knocked out clinging to each other."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has liked this story. I really am enjoying this story :)


	6. "It's comforting when you do it"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren showcases another instrument under his belt, enjoying his newfound friends before a betrayal is revealed by the person you'd least expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really bad at summaries I've realized.

Armin woke but kept his eyes closed in hopes of going back to sleep. He patted the spot Eren should be in to find it empty. He sat up sleepily as he looked around for his boyfriend before seeing a note on the bed.

_ "Morning sunshine, don't worry I'm still here. I'm just making coffee and breakfast. I didn't know if you'd have a hangover so I brought you Advil and water. They're on your nightstand." _

Armin smiled placing the note in his nightstand before getting up and slowly made his way to the dresser. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and Eren’s hoodie that he "borrowed" earlier this week before walking into the kitchen with soft music playing. Armin walked up behind an unaware Eren wrapping his arms around his waist. "Morning Eren...." He mumbled leaning into the dark-haired one's back.

"Morning sunshine." Eren smiled as he finished making Armin‘s coffee. "Coffee?" blue asked to which Armin nodded and stepped back. Eren turned to face Armin, handing him his coffee, "Cream and sugar’s already in babe."

"You know how I make my coffee?" Armin took a small sip, his eyes widened in shock as it was perfect. "How?"

"I've watched you make your coffee for a like a week now. And whenever we go to Scout’s Coffee you get the caramel iced with 2 creams 3 sugars." Eren winked smiling. "Maybe I'm better at this than I expected, huh?" He wrapped an arm around Armin‘s neck, leaned his head down, and kissed the spot between his eyebrows gently.

"I've been saying that since day one, moron."

"Moron?"

"You’d think you would've gotten smarter after those private lessons." Armin smirked from behind his cup and looked up to see Eren with his eyebrow raised with a less than happy look on his face.

“You really wanna piss off the guy making you breakfast?"

"You really wanna try me on this?" Armin smiled as Eren chuckled as he leaned down, and pressed their lips together. The blonde sighed into the kiss before pulling away. "Let me make breakfast, you did make the coffee after all." Eren went to protest but was stopped by Armin pressing a finger against his lips. “Let me, please." He smiled as he grabbed the blonde's hand, pulling it away enough he could bend his head down pressing a kiss into Armin‘s palm.

"Sure Blondie." Eren pressed another kiss to the blonde's palm before stepping back leaning on the island in the kitchen. He reached over and turned the speaker up, now that he didn't have to worry about waking his boyfriend. "You ever listen to Against the Current?" Eren asked scrolling through his music. Armin shook his head no without looking up. "Okay, guess we're listening to her." He put his Against the Current playlist on before sipping his coffee. Eren hops on the counter near Armin and air drums the song playing as he hums along.

Armin watches briefly before turning back to the omelet he was making. "Hey, babe? How many instruments can you play?" He plates the first omelet and hands it to Eren pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'm just curious 'cause you almost always pretend there's either a drumset or a piano in front of you. I already know you can play guitar, obviously."

"Uhmm... I think I'm at 6? Let's see there's the guitar, violin, piano, drums, bass, and I taught myself the harp for fun." Eren chuckles nervously scratching the back of his head. "I guess that sounds kind of nerdy."

"Not at all. Music's your passion it makes sense, but I've never heard someone play the harp. I bet you're excellent. It looks like you need really skilled fingers." Armin states plainly working on his omelet smirking to himself.

"Most instruments need- wait...." While it took Eren a minute to figure it out, his face went red at Armin‘s boldness. "Shit Blondie you can't just-" Eren looked to his boyfriend seeing the smirk on his face as he plated his omelet. "You little brat."

Armin gasped, "Me? A brat? Never." He teased as he carried his breakfast and coffee to the table. Eren joined him setting his omelet on the table and scooted his chair closer to Armin. He gently grabbed Armin‘s hand pressing a kiss to his knuckles. "What's that for?" the blonde asked, a faint red spreading across his cheeks.

"A thank you for breakfast. I'll bring you to one of the music stores I regular at one day, they have a harp and they let me play it all the time." Eren said smiling at Armin who nodded before they both started eating.

"ARMIN! Please be decent!" Mikasa called from outside the door before opening it and sighing in relief. "Oh thank god."

"What if I wasn't Mikasa? What if I getting railed on the table? What then?" Armin smiled as Eren doubled over in laughter. Mikasa freezes in the door as Sasha leans on the door laughing with tears in her eyes. "Oh hey, Sasha." Sasha gives a quick wave before wrapping her arms around Mikasa’s shoulders.

"Okay in all honesty Mika, you should've expected that." Sasha rested her head on Mikasa’s shoulder smiling up at her.

"Fair point."

"Guys have you ever heard someone play the harp?" Armin asked as the girls sat at the table with them, to which they both shook their heads no. "Eren, can they come? He was gonna play the harp for me at a music store someday."

"Why not today? We’re all here." Eren suggested as he and Armin finished their food. He looked over at the blonde next to him and noticed something odd. "Armin is that my hoodie?" Eren asked confused as to how he didn't notice.

"I have been wearing it all morning. How did you only just now realize this?" Armin asked in disbelief. Eren shrugged and grabbed the dishes and silverware bringing them to the sink. "Anyway, are you two down to go today?" Armin asked turning to face Mikasa and Sasha. Sasha nodded while Mikasa scanned Armin‘s chest seeing at least three hickies and two dark bite marks on his skin.

“Jesus Eren! Show some restraint!" Mikasa said concerned pointing at the marks as " Eren turns to them from the sink confused. "There has to be five marks on him."

"Ten actually but who's counting." Armin mumbles finishing his coffee turning to see Sasha and Mikasa with wide eyes. "What? There's some on my legs, I'd show you but I don't have any boxers on." Armin walked over to Eren, to put his mug in the sink, causing Sasha to notice the claw marks covering Eren’s back. She just shook her head before bringing Mikasa in for a soft kiss making them both smile.

Eren wrapped his arms around Armin after he finished the dishes. The blonde snuggled into his chest. "Mikasa's mad at me for the hickies isn't she?" Armin laughed as he nodded and Eren pressed his lips to his boyfriend's head. "Does she know you left more on me?" The blonde shook his head no with a smirk. "I'm not allowed to tell her am I?" He shook his head again and Eren signed running a hand through his hair. "Fucking brat." The brunette grabbed the back of Armin‘s head and pressed their lips together roughly. Armin moaned softly into the kiss, sending a shiver down Erens's back.

The four decide to watch a movie before getting ready, Armin and Mikasa sit on the couch leaned into opposite corners, talking about their night. Sasha and Eren were in the kitchen getting drinks and snacks while chatting. She leaned on the island gazing at Mikasa with a smile. "Two years I couldn't say anything. And thanks to you, she's mine now."

Eren smiled at Sasha leaning on the counter next to her. "I like Mikasa, she hooked up the warriors with food, even when her boss yelled at her. Plus she always looked like she was enjoying our performances since day one before we had any real traction." Eren grabbed a piece of popcorn before tossing it in his mouth. "C'mon they're waiting for us.” He said as he picked up two glasses and the popcorn bowl, leaving the soda and two other glasses for Sasha to grab. Eren walked to the couch setting the glasses and bowl on the coffee table as Sasha brought everything else. Eren laid on the couch cuddling into Armin‘s chest, smiling as the blonde wraps his arms around his waist. Sasha sat on Mikasa’s lap wrapping her arms around the black-haired girl's neck. Mikasa pressed a kiss to Sasha's head and the four of them bunkered down to water the movie.

~~~~

Levi sighed as he grabbed a new essay from the stack and pulled up the students grading portal up. It was Saturday so there were no kids at the school so he came in a pair of jeans and a dark sweater. He looked over to find he finished his tea and decided it was a good time to stretch his legs. Levi grabbed his teacup before making his way to the nearby break room and put his teacup on the table. He backed up to grab a tea bag but crashed into a large, muscular chest. Two large arms caught him at the waist before he fell, "Woah, easy there. You okay?" Levi looked up to find two blue eyes staring down at him. He felt his heart leap into his throat so he nodded, not trusting his voice. The stranger helped him stand and smiled gently. “My apologies I should've been more careful. I'm Erwin I teach War Studies."

Levi took a step back before looking up to meet his gaze. "Levi. I teach classical literature. Uh, thank you for catching me." Erwin tilted his head smiling causing Levi to turn his head away. "Let me make you some tea in thanks." He turned and quickly started making the tea grabbing his spare teacup from the cabinet. Erwin sat at the table quietly observing Levi. Levi carries the two cups over placing one in front of Erwin and sat down at the table with Erwin. "I've never seen you here before. It's a random time to get a new teacher."

Erwin hummed, “Well the man teaching this before me fell ill, so my employment got pulled forward. My question is why are you here on a Saturday?" He asked as he took a small sip of tea.

"I don't like bringing my work home, so I come here to do my grading." Levi looks up from the table to see Erwin looking at him with a relaxed smile. He gave the blonde a small smile in return.  'He's got a solid foot on me in height, built like a damn Greek God, and his eyes... I could stare into them forever.'

"Can I take you to dinner tonight?” Erwin inquired tilting his head. "I know that's a little out of the blue but I think I'd much enjoy your company."

"Yes. I think I'd enjoy that as well."

~~~~

Eren leads the group to his favorite store, "In here guys." He opened the door, holding it open for them. Armin smiled at Eren, placing a hand on his chest before going on his toes to kiss the dark-haired boy's cheek, and went into the store. Eren smiled walking in after Armin and waved at the man at the counter. "Hey, Rocco!"

"Eren! My man!" Eren walked over dapping up the large tattooed man. "It's been ages since you've been in, you finally ready for your tattoo?" Eren shook his head laughing lightly. "Whatcha doing here then?”

"You still got that harp? I kinda promised my boyfriend I'd play it for him." Rocco stares at him with wide eyes. "Why is everyone always surprised? This is starting to hurt my feelings." He looked over to Armin holding his arm out, to which the blonde walked over to cuddle into Eren. "Do you have the harp or not?"

“Sorry man, I just never pegged you as a commitment guy. Happy for you, but yea it's still in tester room 4."

"Thanks, I'll make sure I come to visit more often." Eren leads Armin and the girls to the room and once again holds the door for them. Mikasa and Sasha sat on the far part of the bench as Eren settled behind the harp, stretching his arms a bit. Armin sat on the nearest part of the bench and just watched Eren as he plucked a few strings mindlessly. He started playing ‘Young and Beautiful’ by Lana Del Ray perfectly his eyes fluttering shut like he could play this in his sleep. Mikasa cuddled into Sasha, which got her a kiss on her head, as they listened. Armin watched Eren play his eyes focusing on the intricate movements of his hands. He started getting a sense that music was like second nature to Eren like he was just born with music in his blood. He couldn't imagine ever getting tired listening to him play, let alone watching. Armin started noticing anytime he was playing, or even just practicing, he always looked in his element, his anxieties were just non-existent.

He ended up playing quite a few songs; Creep by Radiohead, Sweater Weather by The NBHD, and Perfect by Ed Sheeran, to name a few. The group eventually walks over to the convenience store nearby to get drinks and walk over to the park. They all sit at a large tree, Eren holding Armin who's sat between his legs his back to his chest. While Mikasa just rests her head on Sasha's shoulder. Armin listens to Eren bond with Sasha over some obscure band he's never heard of, but it makes him smile that he gets along with his friends. His face scrunches in confusion as his phone starts ringing. Armin pulls his phone out of his pocket and holds it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Armin? It's Marco, I know you probably don't wanna talk to me but I have to talk to you. It's driving me crazy, are you free?"

"I'm out with Mikasa, Sasha, and Eren right now. Maybe later?" 

"It’s important. I don't care if Eren’s with you, I just don't want to admit to this in front of Mika or Sasha yet."

"Fine, meet me at my place I'll text you the address." Armin hangs up quickly rolling his eye s. "Mikasa, Sash, Eren, and I gotta go but we'll see you later yeah?"They nod in response waving bye as Armin leads Eren to the car. He explains everything to the dark-haired boy driving while pouting in the passenger seat. "This sucks I don't wanna talk to Jean's new boyfriend. Like yeah, we were friends before but it's just awkward now." Eren frowns hearing the hurt in his boyfriend's voice and reaches over to grab Armin‘s hand. The blonde pulls his hand away before turning his body to face the window. "Sorry Eren, I just don't wanna be touched right now."

Eren nods and parks the car. "I'm really bad at comforting so just tell me how I can help okay, sunshine?" Armin nods before getting out of the car and stormed up to his apartment. Eren sighed resting his forehead on the steering momentarily before looking over, seeing Armin left his phone. He grabbed it as he got out and quickly made his way up to the apartment. “Baby? You left your phone in the car... Where are ya?”

"In here." Armin called from his room before pulling the pillow closer and buries his face in the fluff. Eren walked into his room sitting on the bed, not even an arm's length from him. "Can we just stay in bed after this?" He lifted his head and looked over at Eren, who nodded at him smiling. He sat up pulling his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. "Can you play with my hair? It's really comforting when you do it." Armin pulled his hair out of the bun it was in as Eren scooted next to him. The dark-haired one guided the blonde so his head rested in his lap and started running his hand through the blonde locks, occasionally twirling some around his fingers. Armin‘s eyes fluttered shut before he nuzzled his face into Eren’s stomach letting out a small hum. The two stay like that, Eren keeping his other hand at his side not to push Armin‘s boundaries, until the doorbell rings signaling Marco's arrival.

Armin groaned before getting up unceremoniously and walked over to the door opening it for Marco silently. Eren wrapped an arm around Armin‘s shoulders cautiously, relaxing when the blonde leaned into him. The couple sat on the couch as Marco sat on one of the chairs. "Look Jean said he was gonna tell you but he keeps chickening out and I'm really sorry Armin." Marco looked down at the ground, his face was scrunched up in pain. "You know how you came to us when we started college about you and Jean were constantly fighting, you couldn't figure out why?" Armin rolled his eyes before nodding.

"Marco I really don't have the patience for you to beat around the bush like this. Just say your piece."

"It was because of me. October 19th is our anniversary..." Marco said suddenly as his eyes tear up. Armin stares at Marco blankly his mouth hanging open in disbelief. "I know it was wrong I just couldn't help it, I started falling for him over the summer and I guess he felt the same... He kept saying he was gonna tell you and end things but stuff kept coming up for you, so he didn't want to add stress to you." Marco looked up at Armin tearfully. "I am so sorry Armin. If I-"

"Get out." Armin spoke in a cold ruthless tone, that actually terrified Eren, glaring at the freckled boy with a harsh glare. Marco began to protest but Armin grabbed one of the glasses from earlier and threw it at Marco. The glass hit the wall behind Marco shattering into pieces as Armin rose from the couch. "Get out! And don't you dare tell anyone! I refuse to be made a fool by you two ever again! Don't even think of telling Jean, we will act as nothing has changed, but you'll get your karma in time. Now, get out." Marco ran out the doos as fast as he could, tripping over his own feet in his haste. Armin fell to his knees and looked down at the ground as his breathing got shallow and uneven.

Eren got off the couch is reeling next to Armin on one knee reaching a hand towards him carefully. Armin turned to Eren with tears in his eyes before throwing his arms around his neck and held him tightly. Eren wraps his arms around the blonde‘s shoulders, feeling the shake from the silent crying from Armin. "I'm here Armin, I'm here." He pressed gentle kisses to Armin‘s head as he brought a hand to the blonde locks, twirling sections of it around his fingers. Eren held him as close as he could doing his best to keep his anger at bay. Since day one Eren wanted to beat that guy's head in, but he knew Armin needed him right now. 

He couldn't imagine how pained his ball of sunshine was hearing that, I mean almost half his relationship was a lie. No matter how over it you are, finding out someone you loved betrayed you? How do you trust after that? All these thoughts and questions ran through Eren's mind on a loop, causing him to lose track of time. He shakes his head as if that got rid of the thoughts and hears quiet snores. "Blondie must've cried himself to sleep." He shifted Armin gently making it easier to pick him up bridal style before carrying his blonde to bed. Gently, Eren set him down and covered him to his chest with the blanket, before leaning down and pressing his lips against Armin‘s forehead. He walked out of Armin‘s room at the same time Mikasa got home, with no Sasha. "Sasha go home?"

"Got called into work, where's Armin?" She asked walking into the kitchen to get a snack before having to get ready for work.

"Sleeping. Avoid the living room, there's broken glass on the floor. You got a broom or something I can clean it up with?" Eren asked leaning on the door frame. Mikasa pointed to the closet before it registered.

"Wait. Why is there broken glass on the floor?"

"Ask Armin when he wakes up. I don't know who he's okay telling." He said plainly as he walked to the closet grabbing the broom and dustpan. "It's not that I doubt he'll tell you, it's just not my place to talk about it." Eren walks over and starts sweeping the shards of glass into the dustpan. He kneels to pick up the bigger pieces and accidentally cuts his palm open. "Shit." He quickly cleaned the rest of the glass up and emptied the dustpan into the trash, "Hey Mika? Can you help with this?" He held his hand out to her and she nodded grabbing their first aid kit.

She pointed to one of the stools at the counter. "Sit." Eren nodded sitting on the stool before Mikasa took his hand running a wipe over the cut.

"Ow! Shit that stings!"

"Lower your voice, you'll wake Armin." She said calmly as she cleaned the cut while Eren winced. "Don't be such a baby. It's not that bad." Eren glared at her as she wrapped the injured hand in gauze. "In a few hours, you should be able to replace the gauze with a regular bandaid."

"Thanks, Mika." Eren groaned as he laid on the counter. "Do you still like Jean? I know you were all friends in high school and everything."

"I'm neutral? Guess that's the best way to describe it. Sasha's still friends with him so I have to be civil, but honestly, I couldn't really care less." She said putting away the kit. "I have to get ready for work, if he's feeling up to it I'll get you guys a drink or two on the house. Just drop by okay?" Eren nodded and she retreated to her room.

Eren grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water before going to Armin. He set the cup on the nightstand and brushed some stray hairs out of the blonde’s face. Eren sat by Armin on the bed moving some pillows so he could rest his back against the headboard. The blonde groaned as the bed moved under Eren and his eyes slowly fluttered open. “Eren?”

"I'm here sunshine." Armin turned to face Eren before grabbing his wrist pulling his hand to his hair. "Okay baby. C'mere." Eren moved Armin so his head rested in his lap before running his hands through the blonde hair gently. "Anything I can do just tell me." The blonde nodded as a comfortable silence fell over them.

"Distract me." Armin said after roughly five minutes passed. Even raised his eyebrow in confusion as the Armin sat up and quickly straddled his lap. "Please... I don't wanna think right now..." The blonde wrapped his arms around the other's neck giving him a pleading look. The brunette’s eyes widened in realization before grabbing his boyfriend's waist and nodding. Armin leaned down capturing Erens lips in a rough kiss pulling their bodies as close as possible.

_ ‘Anything for you sunshine.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to everyone who's liked and commented on this in support. I'm sorry the updates aren't regular it's hard with a full-time job


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